Toseef is no longer working at Safeway Dewsbury

Today was my last day. After working in Safeway for 1 year and 4 months as a part-time cashier (amongst others roles) I decided to pack it in and try to move into a different industry. Ever since Morrisons took ownership of Safeway, morale and enthusiasm has been down for the whole workforce. As a result rules has been bent and twisted to suit management.

When Morrisons took over on the 8th of March 2004, Safeway Dewsbury had the task of replacing its stock with that of Morrisons; this was a huge burden as customers where requesting products that we no longer served.

We couldn't find items quickly as everything had been moved around, and for a month or so our customer service was not to a level that it should have been. During this period I noticed a reduction in customers.

A few months later Morrisons announced that Safeway Dewsbury would be sold off. We were told by management that we would all keep our jobs (as we are part of furniture and fittings) and the new owners had to keep the business as a supermarket.

Most of us had expected our store to be one of the 52 stores Morrisons had to sell as we were way underperforming (reasons beyond management control). A few more months passed and news broke out that Lidl had purchased the building for £5.3 million.

Later management informed us that we all would have to find new jobs as Lidl was going to redevelop the site and doing so could take some time. We had the option to take redundancy or request a transfer, most staff requested a transfer as redundancy pay did not come down to much.

To be eligible for redundancy you had be 18 years of age when you were employed and worked for the company for two years; I amongst others didn't fall in this category. Those who requested a transfer were not happy doing so as the majority had to travel further away. Even worse Morrisons don't even tell you if they have a job for you or not.

From this point onwards morale was at an all time low. I can remember when everyone was reading the Job Opportunities paper; usually we didn't even know it was there.

From now on most staff wanted out, the lucky few managed to get a new job and carry on unaffected. Part-timers started dropping like flies; it was like one after the other. Now that I've left I know of three staff that have or will be doing the same and I am sure others will follow suit.

Anyway I was working in Safeway as a cashier, and occasionally helped out on replenishment, bag packing/trolleys, admin, and on the kiosk.

I'll take this chance to say 'good luck and all the best' to my previous Safeway Dewsbury colleagues.

Posted by Piniyini

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