Politicians fear for Midlothian Tesco staff

Following the news Ms Beamish MSP said: “This is deeply worrying for Tesco employees who will be concerned about how this is going to affect them. The information presented so far has been confusing and ambiguous as it is not clear how many employees will be affected and whether the bakery counters are included.

“When I contacted Tesco they were unable to give any detail on what stores will be impacted. This is incredibly disappointing as it leaves employees facing a great deal of uncertainty.

“In the meantime, I have been in touch with USDAW, the main union representing the retail workers in Tesco, and while they don’t expect to have any detail on the proposals from Tesco until March, I will be arranging meetings with them to understand how employees can be best supported.”

Midlothian MP Ms Rowley commented: “I am concerned by the lack of information provided by Tesco regarding their plans to close counter services, particularly which stores will be affected. Tesco should provide more clarity for staff sooner than March - I will be writing to them asking for further details.”

A Tesco spokesman said: “Whenever we make changes in our business, colleagues are always the first to know.”

Jason Tarry, Tesco CEO, UK & ROI said last week: “In our four years of turnaround we’ve made good progress, but the market is challenging and we need to continually adapt to remain competitive and respond to how customers want to shop. We’re making changes to our UK stores and head office to simplify what we do and how we do it, so we’re better able to meet the needs of our customers. This will impact some of our colleagues and our commitment is to minimise this as much as possible and support our colleagues throughout.”