Morrisons staff in tears as bosses reveal 3,000 management jobs will be cut to create 7,000 new shop floor roles

MORRISONS staff has broken down in tears as bosses revealed that 3,000 management jobs will be cut to create 7,000 new shop floor roles.

New jobs created include skilled butchers, bakers, fishmongers and other fresh food specialists.

Morrisons said the aim of its decision was to better help customers within its stores.

It added that a consultation period will last for 45 days before any changes take place.

But a customer service manager who has worked for the supermarket for 10 years told The Sun the announcement has “sent huge shock waves across the business”.

He said: “A lot of people broke down in tears because ultimately under the new structure there won’t be enough jobs.

“A lot of colleagues including myself are at risk of redundancy.

“They aren’t offering voluntary redundancy. Some people have worked for more than 25 years but it doesn’t mean anything.

“You have to go through the process [of reapplying for your role] and if you don’t get one you’ll be made redundant.”

He added that staff were also waiting for backdated pay as a result of a new pay deal for managers which was announced last year.

Meanwhile, David Lepley, Morrisons group retail director, said: “This proposal means more frontline colleagues improving product availability and helping customers.

“Whilst there will be a short period of uncertainty for some managers affected by these proposals, we will be supporting them through this process and there are jobs available for everybody who wants to continue to work at Morrisons.

“There will also be more roles with greater flexibility that are very attractive to colleagues with families.”

The announcement comes just days after rival Sainsbury’s announced it’s cutting hundreds of management jobs.

The supermarket blamed the decision on its integration with Argos, which it bought in 2016.

The big four supermarket chains have axed tens of thousands of jobs over the past few years due to fierce competition by discounters including Aldi and Lidl.

A year ago, Tesco announced it planned to axe 9,000 jobs and close fish, meat and deli counters in 90 stores.

It then followed by another round of redundancies affecting 4,500 workers in August.

Almost two years ago, Morrisons also axed 1,500 staff members.

Meanwhile, Aldi this week announced it’s giving thousands of workers a pay rise with staff getting up to £11.15 an hour.