South Yorkshire jobs fears emerge as Tesco announce '˜operational changes'

Workers at more than 700 stores across the country are currently being informed of the supermarket’s plan to cut back on the number of its stores offering 24-hour opening, including a South Yorkshire store.

More than 2,000 staff members are believed to be affected by the latest cut countrywide – and a 45-day consultation period will start this week.

A Tesco spokesman said: “Across the UK we’re making some changes in a number of our stores, including a number of stores in South Yorkshire, to help us run them more simply and deliver the best possible service for customers.

“We understand this may be disruptive for some colleagues and where there have been changes to a colleague’s role we have worked with them to ensure they are fully supported.”

The spokesman confirmed that the Rotherham Extra store, Drummond Street, will no longer open 24 hours a day as part of these changes, which have been put in place to simplify the service that the supermarket giant provide to customers.

The store will open from 6am until midnight in the future, although it is not clear exactly when this change will happen or how many workers will be affected.

The spokesman added that other ‘limited’ changes would be made to the running of other large stores across South Yorkshire, and said consultations are beginning with staff this week.

“We are also making other changes to our stores’ operations, for example moving the replenishment of shelves from a night time to a twilight or day time shift.

“We are still consulting with colleagues on these changes and, as such, we are not in a position to list all stores.”

It is not clear how many South Yorkshire Tesco workers are affected by these changes, or if any of them are based in Doncaster.

A spokesman for the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, (Usdaw), confirmed that they are supporting members in the South Yorkshire area.

Usdaw National Officer, Pauline Foulkes, said: “Following a business review Tesco are announcing various operationalchanges at stores around the country.

She added: “Each store will have different changes to address its specific needs and some will be more substantial than others.

“A period of consultation with individual staff is now beginning and our priority is to minimise redundancies and help as many employees as possible in transition to new suitable roles within the organisation.

“We are providing the advice, support and representation our members need throughout the consultation period.”