HUNDREDS of Asda employees are facing job losses and salary reductions as the supermarket announced cutbacks across the country.

Cost-cutting plans revealed recently include moving overnight stocking shifts into the daytime at 184 stores, which would see night-shift managers face the axe.

The company is currently in a "consultation" period, and it is unclear what impact the Alloa Asda store would face.

Ordinary staff members who work those shifts would incur a pay cut as they move out of nightshift and into dayshift, losing their unsociable hours premium of at least £2.52 per hour.

Seven in-store pharmacies around the country could be forced to close, putting a further 48 workers at risk of unemployment due to "low customer usage."

Further changes may affect the 23 in-store post offices which might lose 25 per cent of their opening hours, affecting 23 managers and 200 colleagues.

It is currently unknown which stores will be hit by the cutbacks, but consultations have started with the affected staff members.

Ken Towle, Asda's retail director, understood the cutbacks would be a difficult time for the business as a whole and insisted he will work as closely as possible with staff.

He said: "The retail sector is evolving at pace and it is vital we review changing customer preferences, along with our own ways of working, to ensure we are operating as efficiently as possible, so that we can continue to invest and grow our business.

"We are now entering a period of consultation with our colleagues on these proposals.

"We recognise this will be a difficult time for them and we will do all we can to support them through this process."