Supermarket giant Coles is poised to axe up to 600 jobs from its Melbourne head office as part of its latest effort to cut costs.
Coles wants to cut about 20 per cent of its workforce at its Tooronga headquarters, and is believed to be planning to send some of those jobs offshore, Fairfax websites report.
The cuts are expected to come primarily from "back office" roles like IT, accounts and payments.
Coles reportedly plans to use some of the savings to reduce grocery prices.
Coles did not respond to calls, but the supermarket chain is expected to announce the job cuts on Wednesday.
The Australian Services Union hit out at any plan to send jobs offshore.
"Every time we hear words like efficiency, Australian workers lose jobs and somehow they reappear overseas," ASU branch secretary Ingrid Stitt said on Tuesday.
"Big companies cut jobs in the service sector, like accounting and IT, to cut costs to the bone and outsource them to big consulting firms, which just so happen to be in other countries."
Victorian Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews said the planned job cuts were more bad news for the state, which has an unemployment rate of seven per cent.
"This is very sad news for those 600 families, they are going to face a very uncertain Christmas," he said.
Coles has been cutting costs in its supply chain over the past five years, which has helped drive a turnaround in the supermarket giant's performance.
