UK's Sainsbury's to cut up to 400 jobs in stores shake-up

LONDON, March 3 (Reuters) - Sainsbury (Amsterdam: SJ6.AS - news) 's, Britain's second largest supermarket group, is to cut up to 400 jobs in a restructuring of its store operations, it said on Friday.

A spokesman for the grocer said it was removing 400 price controllers from its operation. Price controllers check that prices displayed on supermarket shelves are correct. Their role will in future be carried out by other staff.

All of Britain's big four supermarkets - Tesco (Frankfurt: 852647 - news) , Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons - are seeking efficiency savings to finance price cuts so they can better compete with discounters Aldi and Lidl, who have won market share in recent years.

The affected Sainsbury's workers, who have now entered a 45-day period of consultation, will be offered roles elsewhere in Sainsbury's or redundancy.

Sainsbury's is also cutting night shifts in 140 stores, requiring 4,000 employees to move to either early morning or late evening shifts.

"We regularly review our business to ensure we're operating as efficiently and effectively as possible and our resources are in the right place, so that we can provide our customers with the best possible service," the spokesman said.

"Following a recent review, we are making some changes to administrative roles and night shift patterns in a number of stores, subject to consultation."

Trade union Unite, which represents more than 12,000 members working for Sainsbury's, said it would be seeking guarantees over no compulsory redundancies. (Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Alison Williams)