STAFF at a Saltcoats supermarket face further uncertainty over jobs after bosses announced a national shake-up.

Late last year, the Herald told how a ‘store review’ was taking place with a third of staff being made redundant at the Sainsbury’s store in Hamilton Street.

Now more black clouds hang over the store with thousands of jobs set to go across the country, but the retail giant is not saying who will go where and they are calling it a ‘reshuffle’.

The supermarket chain will replace deputy managers with a smaller number of operations managers. Meanwhile, more junior management roles will be combined under the new title of customer and trading manager.

Despite the reshuffle, Sainsbury’s bosses have insisted the changes won’t affect the “overall headcount” of staff. However for that to happen staff on management salaries would have to be willing to accept lower paid roles, but many of those affected are expected to opt for redundancy rather than accept a lower-paid job.

For team leaders and store supervisors, there is the potential to move from being paid by the hour to a salaried role.

The Herald asked Sainsbury’s what the restructure would mean for the Saltcoats store, specifically, but they refused to give details on individual stores.

Simon Roberts, Retail and Operations Director of Sainsbury’s, said: “We’re proposing a store management structure that will deliver best in class leadership and, in many cases, will offer an improved reward package for new management roles.

“The proposals will introduce a more efficient and effective structure, designed to meet the challenges of today’s retail environment.

They will deliver cost savings to be invested in our customer offer and in our colleagues as they continue to provide the very best service for our customers."