Activists to picket Tesco's first US store

[T_i_B]

Source: UK Independent

Tesco expands its empire into the United States this week. But the British supermarket chain will not be welcomed with open arms.

The opening of the first of its medium-sized markets, to be called Fresh & Easy, is to be picketed by a fearsome coalition of community activists, church leaders and union organisers in LA whose exploits include preventing Wal-Mart from gaining a toe-hold in a black-majority inner-city area.

The Alliance for Healthy and Responsible Grocery Stores has no objection to Tesco's stated goals – to serve impoverished areas, provide well-paying jobs with health benefits and advocate corporate environmental protection.

But the activists are not sure yet whether to take Tesco at its word.

Read more: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article3127410.ece

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I suppose we'd best try and find some further reading for you guys about Tesco as you may find them to be even more bothersome then Wal-Mart.

[PSPS]

1. Actually, the Tesco idea sounds very attractive to me as a shopper.

Their idea of a smaller, yet fully stocked grocery is a great alternative to the scourge that is Safeway.

I found this story about Tesco buying competitors in some UK areas
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2987872.ece
but I don't know if that's related to whatever "The Alliance for Healthy and Responsible Grocery Stores" is concerned about. The article in the OP has scant information - nothing really as the article is quoted in its entirety.

[T_i_B]

2. Tesco is the UK equivalent of Wal-Mart in many respects

They dominate the UK grocery market. In some towns there really is little else other then Tesco's to shop at.

Although Walmart own Asda over here, they don't have as bad a reputation in terms of how they treat their workers, monopolizing the market etc.

[depakid]

4. How about how they treat their suppliers?

When I saw how the Competition Commission behaved, it surely reminded me of America's impotent Democrats....

See, e.g. http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/claire_melamed/2007/11/waking_up_to_unfair_trade.html

[DBoon]

5. are they as anti-union as walmart?

walmart will actually shut a store down entirely before having to deal with a union

[dipsydoodle]

7. The answer is "probably"

although keeping anything non union would be far more difficult in the UK. Substantial numbers of UK supermarket workers are still at school and are employed part time.

Apart from that - unionisation that was the background to the catering strike at Heathrow last year.

There was a big warehouse fire here yesterday at a company who supply Tescos. It's alleged that the largely imigrant workforce were on £14 / day which is about a third of our minimum wage of what to you would be c. $10 / hour. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/nmw/#b

Fire details etc here : http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=491606&in_page_id=1770

[dipsydoodle]

8. They pursue policies of knocking out competition.

Inverness for example :

The city, the capital of the Highlands and the fastest-growing region in the UK, has recently been dubbed 'Tesco Town'. No area in the country is more dependent upon one retail behemoth.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1676049,00.html

Having said that it amuses me that Watford has got four McDonalds.....lol.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. When I was in the UK in 2006

I happened to catch a TV comedy program in they had a sketch about Tesco declaring war on other countries.

I was in a Tesco once to grab a sandwich between trains, and they seemed like an ordinary supermarket, but the comedy sketch gave me some hint of their reputation.

[izquierdista]

6. Tesco vs. Wal-Mart

IMHO, Tesco wins hands down. The aisles are wide enough for two carts without scraping the paint off the shelves, they are cleaner and better lit, and the store brand products seem better to me. Where I live, they have Carrefour and Auchan to compete against, so they are not the only game in town. Sometimes the lines are long, almost as long as the ones at Wal-Mart on a good day.

These activists seem to want to picket first and state their grievances later. If Tesco starts going heads-up against Wal-Mart in the US, then the activists can play one against the other and turn around the race to the bottom.

[enlightenment]

10. I've never visited a town in the UK that ONLY had Tescos, though

I'm sure there are some - and I admit I prefer Sainsbury's despite the higher prices. Still, I'm with izquierdista; proactive picketing seems a bit, well, precipitous, and I don't mind seeing two corporate behemoths duking it out as they always seem to kill each other off in the process.

Maybe they are horrible, but I doubt they're any more horrible than Walmart.

I'll hold my fire for now and see how they actually pan out. They're opening at least a dozen stores here in Las Vegas, so it should be easy enough to keep an eye on . . .

[lonestarnot]

9. Pestco!

[Joe Chi Minh]

11. Thank goodness you people are alive to the most predatory expressions

of corporatism! They have expanded all over the UK with immense cynicism.

There was a most informative TV programme on the topic some months ago, here in the UK. All they could do was deny the truth of witnesses' testimony.

If they provide well-paid jobs, it will be a first. And that includes their suppliers. They beat everyone down to the barest bone, but the shopper gets precious little of the benefit.

[Joe Bacon]

12. Bring 'em on

I'll sit back and munch on popcorn as Tesco goes after Whore Mart.