Thousands of jobs would be at risk in a devastating impact on communities
GMB, the union for ASDA workers, says it will not sit idly by while 463 stores are offloaded as part of the merger with Sainsbury’s
Sainsbury's and Asda may have to offload hundreds of stores across the UK in order to satisfy competition regulation outlined by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
The CMA has found a "realistic prospect of a significant lessening of competition" in 463 locations across the UK where the supermarkets' catchments overlapped.
Gary Carter, GMB National Officer, said:
“The disposal of 463 Asda/Sainsbury’s stores would put thousands of jobs at risk and have a devastating economic impact on their local communities.
“GMB cannot see where you will get that number of buyers in an already depressed retail market.
“This number of store disposals would make the proposed merger unviable.
“We don’t see how the Asda/Sainsbury’s merger could go ahead.
“GMB will not sit idly by and let jobs go and stores close.”
