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An international network of unions, under the umbrella of the UNI Tesco Global Union Alliance, today published the first of a series of research reports concerning Tesco’s labour relations practices in a number of countries.



The first three reports on Tesco – in Thailand, South Korea and the USA – were drafted in response to complaints from unions about local employment practices there.



The reports conclude that Tesco’s employment practices in these countries fall short of Tesco’s published global labour principles to which it is committed in its public policies. Some of Tesco’s practices abroad include:



In Thailand

• requiring employees to work two shifts (18 hours) or three shifts (24 hours) back-to-back
• coercing employees into working unpaid overtime, after checking out at the end of a shift
• systematic and deliberate breaches of health and safety
• firing employees who applied to form a trades union
• intimidating employees into withdrawing their names from a petition submitting collective bargaining demands
• visiting employees’ families at home, to urge them to persuade the employees to resign from the union
• rewarding employees who resigned from unions with promotions; punishing employees who refused to resign with demotions; and in both cases, moving employees to other locations to undermine the union.

In South Korea

• forcing employees to work up to 20 hours a week of unpaid “voluntary” overtime
• co-opting employees from in-store suppliers and franchisees to work unpaid overtime
• employing contract workers on lower pay and allowances and job security than permanent employees working the same hours on the same job
• forcing the leaders of the company union to resign as the price for settling a long-running strike in a hypermarket chain that it bought in 2008.

In the USA

• employing only part-time workers, preventing employees from earning a living wage
• imposing such strict conditions on pensions that most employees will never receive matched contributions from Tesco
• refusing to meet with union representatives even to discuss the possibility of organising among employees
• rejecting a legitimate recognition request from a majority of employees in one Californian store.

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Phil Bowyer, the Deputy General Secretary of UNI Global Union, said: “UNI wants to talk to Tesco about these reports which found inconsistencies between its own global principles and local practices. We ask Tesco to take these reports seriously and take remedial action.” “We created a Tesco Global Union Alliance in response to a rapidly globalising Tesco, which is now present in many countries. Our aim is to share workers’ experiences in these different countries, to create a supportive framework to help local employees. We think the way forward is a global dialogue. We do not underestimate the task of a company entering new markets. We are seeking local consistency with Tesco’s global standards. In this sense we welcome the Tesco announcement to establish a European Works Council as a step in the right direction.” Phil Robertson, Director of the Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates (AHRLA), Thailand, who compiled the Thailand report, said: “Our research found that some Tesco workers in Thailand were forced to work 24-hour shifts, which is shocking. The safety net for workers like these should be their union. But we found that in many of the stores, employees are too scared to join a union, because they have seen their colleagues fired or disciplined for union activities. Tesco managers have even visited employees’ homes, to urge their families to influence the employees against the union.” UNI South Korea organiser Jay Choi said: “The most shocking abuse we found was that to settle a long-running dispute in hypermarkets which it bought in 2008. Tesco’s most senior South Korean management picked out the nine leaders of the union and forced them and three other union members to resign. It served as a powerful, high-profile signal to employees that union membership brings with it a risk to their jobs.”

Michael Bride, Deputy Organising Director for Global Strategies at the United Food and Commercial Workers Union of the United States, said: “Tesco’s Fresh & Easy employees have no job contract, low pay and poor benefits. Tesco’s anti-union practices are blocking attempts by employees to unionise to get the job security and protection they deserve. All we have ever wanted is a meeting with Tesco, but they refuse. Sir Terry Leahy has even ignored a written request from Barack Obama to engage with my union. I hope that these reports will encourage Tesco’s management to change its approach.”



The UNI Tesco Alliance recognises that, in many markets, positive industrial relations have been established and solid union-employer relations are in place and have stood the test of time. The Alliance would like such partnerships to be the norm everywhere and will work with this objective in mind.



UNI Global Union has established constructive working relations with many global companies to raise standards. There is a change of mood on corporate governance, taking companies in the direction of involving unions and other stakeholders to give them the 360° vision required. UNI’s global agreements with leading global companies has proved of benefit to all involved in the company concerned. We believe that Tesco would also gain from taking this step.



Visit the Tesco Alliance Website



Ends



For more information contact:



Stephen Hardwick on 07515 390 549 or stephen.hardwick@altcon.co.uk

Tony Sophoclides on 07887 935 335 or tony.sophoclides@altcon.co.uk



Notes to editors



UNI

UNI Global Union is an international union based in Switzerland, representing more than 20 million workers in 900 trades unions worldwide.



Country reports

UNI’s Tesco Global Alliance country reports on South Korea, Thailand and the USA can be downloaded at Tesco Alliance Website



Phil Bowyer

Philip Bowyer is UNI's first Deputy General Secretary. Before the creation of UNI, he was General Secretary of the Communications International (CI), one of UNI’s founding partners.



Alke Bössiger

Alke Bössiger is the Head of Department for UNI’s Commerce Sector, UNI’s largest sector, with more than three million members. She also leads UNI’s global work on temporary agency workers and recently concluded a Global Agreement with the world’s six largest employers in this sector.



Jay Choi

Jay Choi has been the UNI-APRO Korea desk co-ordinator since January 2000 and is Deputy General Secretary of the UNI-Korea Liaison Council, which represents nine industrial and enterprise unions.



Phil Robertson

Phil Robertson is an independent consultant engaged on issues of labour and human rights, migration, and human trafficking throughout the Asia-Pacific region. He works extensively with United Nations agencies, trade unions and NGOs.



Michael Bride

Michael Bride is Deputy Organising Director for Global Strategies in the Organising Department of the United Food and Commercial Workers’ Union. He works on campaigns with and on behalf of labour unions both in the USA and worldwide. The UFCW has 1.3 million members in North America.