Morrisons says to close three depots, 2,500 jobs at risk |
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Published
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Sat, 24 Sep 2005 08:05
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LONDON -Wm Morrisons, the troubled supermarket chain which narrowly averted strike action last week may no longer be able to do so after it announced that an internal review had indicated that it no longer required three depots and was consequently planning to shut them down. Such a move puts close to 2,500 jobs at risk, a fact that is bound to hurt the unions.
The three depots which are in the line of fire are located in Aylesford, Kent; Warrington in Cheshire, and Bristol. Understandably the unions are furious mainly because they were not consulted before this announcement was made. "With three depots and over 2,500 jobs now at risk it would have been better had Morrisons let the talks process continue through today before issuing a statement," said T&G national organizer Brian Revell in a counter statement. "Our fear is that going public whilst talks are happening will only reinforce the anxieties of our members and may increase not decrease the pressure to take strike action," he added.
Morrisons however maintain that they would take every possible step to minimize the job losses. The company said in a statement that it would encourage people "to apply for available alternative employment elsewhere within the Morrisons group, with the aim of minimizing redundancies." The unions claim that this does not excuse the way in which Morrisons went about the whole business.
Jude Brimble, national officer of general union GMB was pretty scathing, "This review has taken place without any involvement of the workforce or the unions. Morrisons have conducted themselves in an underhand, dishonest and disgraceful way," Brimble said adding that GMB would not sit quietly and that a planned strike action on Thursday was a distinct possibility.
Morrisons said that after it sold 200 stores it is being overstaffed and hence the need for this move, "The Company is now aiming for a distribution network which meets the needs of the business going forward and reduces the additional running costs necessarily incurred whilst servicing both Morrisons and Safeway stores," it said in a statement.
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