Up to 68 jobs to go at the Co-op in Jersey

Monday 22 September 2014

The Co-op has announced that up to 68 staff could lose their jobs following a decision to move its warehouse to the UK, and review its Total Sport brand.

The news affects staff at both the Jersey food warehouse, and the society's head office in Don Street, as well as the Total Sport shop at Beaumont. The Co-op has said the move could be completed by next summer, and there will be no disruption to the supply of goods in its stores. The new Co-op warehouse will be based at Andover in Hampshire.

 "This has been an extremely difficult decision, especially when it potentially affects our colleagues but once Andover’s modern Co-operative facility opened last year, we were duty bound to review our supply chain. It became very clear that there would be significant opportunities to focus on better fresh food availability, increased product shelf-life and a larger range of goods for our members and customers,’ said Colin Macleod, Co-op Chief Executive.

"Whilst this decision has primarily been taken to focus on the customer experience and to realise some cost efficiencies, we also recognise our obligation to those colleagues who are potentially affected. We are pleased to say that there will be opportunities to re-train people within the Society and we plan to re-deploy wherever possible," said Mr Macleod.

The Co-op has received an offer to purchase its Beaumont warehouse building, which is where Total Sport is based. 

"We are obliged to inform those colleagues who work in our Total Sport business that they are also ‘at risk’ of redundancy whilst we review the offer and its impact on our Total Sport brand," said Mr Macleod.