Tesco goes west – with non-union job ads

TESCO HAS given its chief executive, Sir Terry Leahy, a pay rise of
almost 25%. He took away almost £4 million in salary, bonus and other
benefits for the year to 25 February, against £3.2 million the year
before. Leahy was also awarded 1.28 million shares.

Tesco, Britain’s biggest supermarket group and the world’s largest
grocer, recently unveiled record full-year profits of nearly £2.3
billion. That’s over £260,000 every hour.

Tesco now has plans to expand into the USA. It apparently wants to
open a chain of small stores in Los Angeles and Phoenix. But the
Financial Times reported last week that advertisements for managers of
its new US stores network included the requirement for "maintaining
non-union status and union avoidance activities." When questioned by the
FT, the non-union language was removed from the advertisements.

The US shopworkers’ union UFCW have been fighting bitter battles
against non-union employers like Wal-Mart in southern California. They
also organised a four-month long strike against cuts in working
conditions at other big supermarket chains.

In the UK, Tesco has had a ‘partnership’ agreement with USDAW since
1998. More than 100,000 Tesco workers are members of the union. But these
moves by the company in the USA show how quickly a ‘partnership’ can turn
into a dictatorship.