News

On March 4, UNI's affiliate Unite the union announced about the launch of a new joint initiative with ASDA supermarket chain. The main goal of the process is to end discrimination and unfair treatment across the supermarket’s 29 meat and poultry suppliers, employing 6,000 workers.



The initiative is especially important to agency workers. According to the union, many supermarkets abuse the situation when cutting costs and employing agency workers, overwhelmingly migrant, on poorer conditions of employment and the directly-employed workers, overwhelmingly indigenous, on better conditions of employment.



Unite's deputy general secretary, Jack Dromey, today said: "We warmly welcome ASDA’s pioneering initiative which sends a clear message that one of Britain’s biggest supermarkets is determined to put ethical principles into practice. ASDA’s customers can be confident that there really is no place like ASDA. For years, supermarkets have driven down costs along their supply chain with tens of thousands of workers paying the price with discriminatory and unfair practices. It is wrong to exploit migrant agency workers on poorer conditions of employment and it is wrong to undercut directly employed workers on better conditions of employment. That divides workforces and damages social cohesion in local communities."



Read a complete report on Unite's website here:

http://www.unitetheunion.com/news__events/latest_news/unite_and_asda_launch_ground_b.aspx?lang=en-gb



Read an article of the Business Times here;



http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article7048797.ece

UNI's affiliate UNITE is is Britain's biggest union with two million members.



ASDA is and is the second largest chain in the UK (after Tesco) which retails food, clothing, toys and general merchandise. They also have a mobile telephone network. Since 1999, ASDA is a subsidiary of the world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart.