It was déjà vu at Morrisons today [Thursday] as, for the second week running, a planned three-day strike by staff at distribution centres was called off to allow for more talks between the supermarket and unions.
An estimated 4,000 workers had threatened to walk out on Friday after the supermarket chain admitted to considering the closure of three depots, in Bristol, Aylesford in Kent, and Warrington, at a cost of 2,500 jobs.
A strike scheduled last week was also called of at the last minute for talks to continue.
GMB national officer Jude Brimble said: "The strike threat forced Morrisons to put their plans on the table and to concede national bargaining.”
"We are now in the middle of serious talks about what looks like very large scale redundancies.
"We are exploring all avenues to try to mitigate the job losses, including transfers, selling depots as going concerns, and an enhanced redundancy package."
The Transport and General Workers' Union is also involved in the negotiations.
A Morrisons statement said that it will "now progress matters relevant to the reshaping of our distribution network to provide an efficient and cost effective service to our stores".
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