News

For immediate release



Wednesday, 27 August 2008

Tesco’s ready-meals supplier to its US Fresh & Easy subsidiary was today reported to America’s labour authorities over the sacking of six workers.



The United Food and Commercial Workers’ Union, which is already challenging Tesco over its own non-union approach in Fresh & Easy, today reported the 2 Sisters Food Group to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for the sacking of six workers.



2 Sisters, a West Midlands-based British food processing company, supplies ready meals to Tesco in the UK. It launched a plant in the US, close to Tesco’s Fresh & Easy processing and distribution centre at Riverside, California, when Tesco first entered the US market. Tesco is 2 Sisters’ sole US customer.



The UFCW claims in its charge to the NLRB that the workers were sacked as a direct result of their attendance at a union recruitment meeting and for filing complaints against managers.



The union believes that 2 Sisters management is conducting a campaign of intimidation against workers to deter union activity. The meeting which the employees attended had already once been moved to a secret location when the original location was found to be under observation by a company supervisor.



The UFCW has interviewed a large number of 2 Sisters workers and is compiling a detailed dossier of incidents to present as evidence to the NLRB.



UFCW Campaigns Director Emily Stewart said: “We have uncovered evidence that workers are being harassed and intimidated by 2 Sisters management to deter union activity, in clear contravention of US labour laws. In taking 2 Sisters to a labour tribunal, we are sending a signal that companies cannot come to the US and ride roughshod over workers’ rights and labour laws. We also challenge Tesco to take action against 2 Sisters for breaches of Tesco’s own supplier standards on the fair treatment of employees.”



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



The United Food and Commercial Workers Union has 1.3 million members in the USA, Canada and Puerto Rico, mostly in groceries and meatpacking/food processing.



The Two Faces of Tesco is available at www.ufcw.org/twofaces



Tesco’s Supply Chains Standards policy states: “The welfare and safety of the employees of our suppliers is important. We expect all Tesco suppliers to extend fair and honest dealings to their employees.”