UK retailer Tesco set to cut about 15,000 jobs

London. Tesco Plc is set to cut about 15,000 jobs and close meat, fish and delicatessen counters, Mail on Sunday reported, citing unidentified industry sources.

The retailer will also overhaul in-store bakeries, and replace staff canteens with vending machines, the newspaper said. The plans are expected to affect the majority of Tesco’s 732 larger stores, according to the report.

Chief Executive Officer Dave Lewis is expected to update Tesco staff early this week and will be forced to go through redundancy negotiations, the report said.

Over the past three financial years, the Hertfordshire, England-based company has reduced staff on average by almost 29,000 workers a year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Tesco had 440,000 employees at the end of February 2018, according to its latest annual report, more than double the number of staff at the second-largest UK-based supermarket retailer, J Sainsbury Plc.

Tesco “is always looking at ways to run our business more simply and efficiently,” Benjamin Davis, a spokesman for the retailer, said in an email. “Whenever we make changes in our business, colleagues are always the first to know.”