Around 600 staff members of a Tesco distribution warehouse in Crick are facing redundancy due to the warehouse centre’s closure in September.
The UK’s leading supermarket announced to its employees on Monday that the warehouse, situated in the village’s old industrial estate, will be closed within seven months. The distribution centre takes care of the company’s non-perishable groceries, such as jars and tins .
The food retailer confirmed that the operation will move to a new £63 million location in Lichfield, nearly 50 miles away from Crick in Staffordshire . It is believed that some of the current 600 employees may be transferred to the new centre.
However Tesco said that its warehouses and stores in the area could be the most likely destination for most of the workers, even though it was announced that only 20 warehouse posts are available locally.
One of staff members, who asked not to be named, said “Basically they are trying to save money from the workforce in order to make themselves richer. It’s just disappointing. You get no loyalty back from them. There’s a lot of disappointed people there and our backs are against the wall.”
A Tesco spokesman responded by saying, “Crick grocery depot is planned to close by the end of September, subject to consultation with our trade unions, with work and staff transferring to a larger purpose built-site at Fradley Park, near Lichfield.”
“All Crick staff will be offered the opportunity of transferring to Fradley Park, where more job opportunities will mean a workforce of over 1,000 staff .”
“However, as it may be impractical for some employees to move they will be considered for roles at other depots and also in our stores. Redundancy packages will be offered for remaining staff,” he added.
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