AN IRVINE store has announced it will be making some of its workforce redundant - just a week before Christmas.

Wilko’s in The Rivergate Shopping Centre has axed four jobs after announcing jobs would go across its 400 stores nationwide, in August this year.

According to Wilko’s, seven members of staff entered into the consultation process in August this year, which resulted in three of them gaining new positions.

The remaining four opted for voluntary redundancy.

The company says the redundancies are to “simplify the retail team structure which had a legacy of being complicated and unfair”.

A spokesperson for Wilko said: “We entered into a consultation process in August 2017 with a number of team members across all of our 400 stores nationwide. This was to simplify the retail team structure which had a legacy of being complicated, unfair and difficult to manage for the team.”

“For the Irvine store, this has meant that seven team members entered consultation, which resulted in three team members securing new roles whilst four team members chose to opt out of the process receiving voluntary redundancy with the support of our recognised trade union, the GMB.”

“Change is never easy and we’d like to thank all of our team members at Irvine for their understanding during this difficult time." 

Gary Carter, GMB National Officer, said: “GMB has worked hard to minimise compulsory redundancies - which have been kept to just 19 across all 400 stores.

“We have encouraged the company to look at alternative ways to save money to protect existing job roles.

“It is important to ensure adequate staffing levels are maintained in Wilko stores to maintain an acceptable level of customer service – and to make sure staff are paid the living wage.”