High street retailer Hema is aiming to cut costs by scrapping paid breaks for staff in its shops, bakeries and distribution centres, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Wednesday.

The paper says it has seen copies of a request to end paid breaks sent by the company to the various Hema works councils. In addition, the company wants to reduce the number of breaks from four to two.

Hema says the move is necessary as part of ‘continuing its road to recovery’. The retail company is also planning to revamp all its stores which will mean ‘a hefty financial investment to strengthen our competitive position,’ the letter said.

Unions are opposed to the move to scrap paid breaks, even though Hema argues many other retailers have already done this. ‘It boils down to the fact people will work two to four hours more a week for the same pay,’ Niels Suijker of the FNV Bondgenoten trade union told the FD.