John Lewis Partnership have been warned by the GMB union that they risk staff walking out if they do not receive answers over planned job cuts.
The Waitrose owner has been informed by GMB that it must meet to discuss its plans to axe 11,000 roles over the next five years, according to The Telegraph.
In a letter to chairwoman Sharon White, the union said it was poised to ballot the retailer’s employees over industrial action if she failed to provide more detail on the job cuts.
GMB national officer Nadine Houghton said: “As the union that represents John Lewis workers, we call on you to meet urgently with us to discuss these changes and to give your workforce the meaningful representation they clearly need.
“If workers do not get the answers they feel they deserve, they will not hesitate to request that GMB begins a ballot of workers.”
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Around 250 John Lewis and Waitrose partners are understood to be part of the union.
A spokesman for John Lewis told The Telegraph: “We’ve just received the letter and will reply to the GMB.”
It follows reports last week that the partnership was looking to slash more than 10% of its 76,000 workforce in an effort to reduce its cost base by £900m.
The Guardian reported that the cuts will impact the company’s central London head office and John Lewis staff most heavily.
Last week, the GMB accused John Lewis of discouraging workers from joining trade unions after partners had been informed the business was halving its redundancy payouts.
However, John Lewis Partnership, which has its own council run by staff representatives, said that its employees were “free to join a union”, but highlighted that “as an employee-owned organisation, we… provide many benefits of a union, without any cost”.
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