Tesco – every two billion helps

TESCO, WITH its huge hypermarkets and many smaller neighbourhood shops
across Britain, is the first British retailer to notch up annual profits of
over £2 billion (£2.03 billion to be precise). That’s £250,000 every hour!

Tesco is a capitalist retail giant. Out of every £8 spent in Britain’s
shops, Tesco is said to account for £1. It has also been expanding abroad
rapidly. Apart from the directors and shareholders, however, who’s gained from
these massive profits?

200,000 plus Tesco workers in Britain would rather work for a profitable
firm than for a debt-ridden company like MG Rover. However, throughout Tesco’s
rise in the supermarket pecking order, workers have had to put up with some
poor pay deals, many of them below-inflation. Staff allege many instances of
bullying management.

Tesco’s South African suppliers pay "poverty wages", claims the ActionAid
charity. Low-wage female seasonal workers growing fruit on Tesco-accredited
farms in South Africa have to live in "dreadful conditions" and cannot afford
to feed their families.

Just 30 companies account for a third of the world’s processed foods. And
between them, the world’s top food retailers control 80% of food production
and distribution.

This gives capitalist retail outlets like Tesco power, using their size to
muscle smaller shops out of business through "predatory pricing" policies.
That’s where unprofitably low prices are kept up just long enough to weaken
the opposition.

Farmers that supply Tesco’s food haven’t done so well. Many small farmers
say the Tescos of the world are ruining them. And Tesco’s market position is
so strong that when the Dairy Crest food group said Tesco wasn’t renewing its
contract for fresh milk, its share price plummeted.

This giant’s profits come from low wages and super-exploitation and their
activities are destroying local shops and communities. Capitalism cannot
control them – surely it’s a prime target for democratic public ownership.