John Williams, Cardiff West Socialist Party
Gathering outside the new Tesco Express in Canton on 10 September, protesters called out the disgraceful decision by Tesco to convert the previous Tesco Metro, and push up prices for staff and the community.
A much-used Tesco, people could buy relatively cheap goods, even more important with the cost of living and inflation hitting the roof. One of the organisers, Ann Marie Zogina, now can’t afford to shop at her most local shop.
Tesco, like many supermarkets, is incredibly profitable. Tesco has tripled its profits in the past year. Pure greed and profiteering is pushing low-income households into hunger and poverty. Tesco has removed 100 lines of value items over the last three years.
And, in the past year, Tesco has changed almost 100 stores from Tesco Metro to Express – hiking up prices, restricting a range of goods, and phasing out ‘Tesco value’ and low-cost ranges to increase already huge profits.
But this is not just unique to Tesco. Profits of the UK’s biggest listed companies were 73% higher in 2021 than pre-pandemic levels. This was despite sales being down! A Unite the Union report says that corporate greed is causing 60% of current inflation levels.
The Socialist Party says that, in order to stop corporate greed and to reduce prices, these big corporations need to be nationalised, and taken away from the big fat cats. Instead, they should be democratically controlled by workers and consumers, deciding which goods they should sell and at what price. Wages of supermarket workers should be increased to a minimum of £15 an hour, and automatically increased with inflation. Communities then wouldn’t be priced out of their local stores, and would be able to afford good quality food.
