Asda put up to 5,000 jobs at risk – GMB trade union vows to fight
Asda is to consult over the future of 5,000 jobs in a major restructure to switch the focus of the business further towards online grocery. However the restructuring could see up to 4,500 new jobs created in online operations this year, follows a surge in online orders across the supermarket sector, which has seen Asda increase its online capacity by 90% since the first lockdown.
The announcement means more than 5,000 workers lives are on hold, said the GMB Union.GMB has begun consultation with Asda as the supermarket giant announces more than 3,700 potential job losses. The union will tell Asda bosses no one should be forced to leave their job unless they want to.
Redundancies
The supermarket giant, recently taken over by the ISSA brothers for £6.8 billion, told workers that the Heston and Dartford shopping centres will close affecting 747 hourly paid and 32 managers workers; re-organisation of management resulting in potential 1,092 job losses, and back Office reorganisation with a potential 1,853 potential job losses The scope of the redundancies affect more than 5,000 workers.
Roger Jenkins, GMB National Officer, said “Asda workers have had a torrid two years. The failed Sainsbury’s takeover, twelve months working on the pandemic frontline and now the uncertainty of a new take over, sidling the company with huge debts and potential sell offs. This is the last thing they need.
“Asda is a profitable company that does not need to enforce redundancies. GMB will battle hard to make sure no one leaves their job unless they want to.”
EG Group not involved
Asda today insisted the EG Group forecourt owners and the investment fund TDR Capital, which are behind the deal, had had “no involvement” in the changes.
However, it comes amid major speculation in the industry over how the Issas might look to shake up Asda, which has struggled amid competition from Tesco and the German discounters Aldi and Lidl.
While it admitted there would be redundancies, Asda said it hoped a “large number” of the 5,000 staff would be among those to take the newly created roles. It said moving to store picking would create greater capacity and improve slot availability, as well as increasing opportunities for customers to utilise same-day delivery, express one-hour collection and delivery via Uber Eats.
