Safeway cuts 172 jobs in Winnipeg as warehouse set to close

More job cuts are coming to Safeway employees in Winnipeg.

The 172 employees, who work 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, the president of Unifor Local 468, which represents the warehouse's 131 unionized employees, said the jobs will disappear likely by fall.

The company is closing the King Edward warehouse and moving those operations to its Inkster Boulevard 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 with Sobeys told CBC News the company hopes some of the workers will be able to transfer to other warehouses on Inkster and on Empress Street.

Armstrong said many of the affected employees 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 are 50 years old or more.

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