Supervalu Laying off 85 From IT Dept.

Supervalu Inc. said Wednesday that it will lay off 85 IT employees nationwide by the end of the month, including 50 at its Eden Prairie, Minn., headquarters, as part of a reorganization of the grocer’s technology department.

Supervalu spokesman Jeff Swanson was quoted in media reports as saying that in addition to the 50 Twin Cities employees, 20 are being laid off in Boise, Idaho, and 15 in Utah. These layoffs are in addition to other job cuts the company made earlier this year, including 2,500 from its Boise-based Albertsons subsidiary and 800 jobs from Supervalu's corporate and regional offices, plus 39 positions from its marketing department.

An additional 305 IT employees in 10 states are being moved to new jobs or being given new job descriptions as part of the restructuring, Swanson said. Further, an unidentified number of positions that the grocer currently has open will not be filled.

CEO Craig Herkert was fired on Monday and replaced by Wayne Sales, former CEO of Toronto-based Canadian Tire Corp., following the announcement on July 11 that Supervalu was considering selling all or part of the company.

Unions are now nervously watching what Supervalu will do next, as 84,000 of the company’s 130,000 employees are represented by Washington, D.C.-based United Food & Commercial Workers.