Walmart plans to cut more than 1,000 jobs at Atlanta warehouse
NEW YORK Reuters -- Walmart Inc is planning to cut more than 1,000 jobs at the Atlanta facility that fulfills orders placed on Walmart.com.
In a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification WARN filed on Wednesday, the nation's largest retailer said it would lay off 1,458 workers at the e-commerce fulfillment center in Fulton Parkway in Atlanta, Georgia.
Walmart said that it was cutting its workforce at the facility and that workers were notified about the move in late August.
Scott Pope, a Walmart spokesman said Walmart is converting the fulfillment center on Fulton Parkway to support our growing WFS Walmart Fulfillment Services business.
The facility's infrastructure, operational resources, processes, staffing requirements and equipment are being adjusted to meet the building's needs as part of the conversion. A WARN notice is mandated by the U.S. labor law and requires companies with 100 or more employees to give 60 days' advance notice of plant closings and mass layoffs.
The company announced on Thursday that it would acquire Alert Innovation, a robotics and automation firm, to speed up deliveries and reduce the number of steps taken by employees in processing orders.
The Atlanta facility's conversion is part of Walmart's plan to modernize and build warehouses with a more high-tech spin to support its growing online business.
Pope said that affected workers are being assisted with paid job searches and that some employees have been hired back at other Walmart stores and supply chain facilities.
The news comes just two weeks after the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer announced plans to hire 40,000 new seasonal workers, most of them in-store associates, to prepare for the busy holiday season.
Many U.S. chains are betting that holiday shoppers will return to physical stores once again due to the e-commerce sales level off, and are staffing up accordingly.
According to its website, Walmart employs more than 70,000 associates in the state of Georgia.