Safeway cuts 172 jobs in Winnipeg as warehouse set to close

More job cuts are coming to Safeway employees in Winnipeg.

The 172employees, whowork at the Safeway warehouse on King Edward Street,stock orders for all stores in the city as well as some rural areas, received layoff notices on Wednesday.

Mark Armstrong, thepresident ofUniforLocal 468, which represents the warehouse's 131unionized employees, said thejobs will disappear likely by fall.

The company is closing the King Edwardwarehouse and moving those operations to itsInksterBoulevard warehouse in late July.

"We've always been told, even yesterday they had the nerve to tell us, the quality of work surpassed any other warehouse in the country.I've heard that for 12 years," he said.

An official withSobeystold CBC News the company hopes some of the workers will be able to transfer to otherwarehouses onInksterand on Empress Street.

Armstrong said many of the affectedemployees are people who have been with the company for a long time, with 20-plus years of service, he said, adding it won't be easy for them to find work.

Fifty of them are50 years old or more.

About 20 trucking employees drivers and mechanics from the King Edward location will keep their jobs and work from theInksterwarehouse.