INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-INDIA/ENGLAND:

DEFINITELY NOT TESCO'S FINEST BLEND:

This item from the international union federation, the IUF, is mainly for our readers in the United Kingdom. It does, however, illustrate a larger point- don't necessarily believe corporations when they trumpet their "social responsibility".

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Tesco's finest tea – produced in far from finest conditions?:

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The IUF fully supports the call from our UK affiliate Unite for the UK-based supermarket Tesco to close the gap between its public policy commitments on socially responsible sourcing and its practices.

The call comes in a shareholder resolution to be put to Tesco's AGM Friday, July 3, 2009. The resolution highlights discriminatory practices in Tesco's meat supply chain and calls on the company to "allocate a non-executive board member to Tesco's Corporate Responsibility Committee to share accountability for the implementation and achievement of Tesco's policy commitments" on human and trade union rights.

West Yorkshire Pension Fund Chairman Ian Greenwood, who supports the Unite resolution, told the UK Guardian "We don't enter these things lightly but there's no question there is evidence of problems in many, many supply lines." In addition to problems in the Tesco meat supply chain identified by Unite, the IUF has now uncovered disturbing conditions on an Indian tea plantation which it has strong grounds to believe to be a part of Tesco's tea supply chain.

In June 2009, an experienced team of IUF researchers investigated living and working conditions on the large Talup plantation in Assam, India which IUF understands to supply tea for Tesco's Finest blends. The plantation management clearly failed to apply even the minimum requirements of the Indian Plantation Labour Act of 1951.

The researchers found clear evidence of:

-- substandard housing including homes with no toilets or electricity

-- shockingly poor sanitary facilities

-- lack of potable water

-- evident malnutrition amongst workers

-- pesticides being applied by workers without protective clothing.

In addition evidence gathered strongly suggested the presence of child labour

Tesco's Finest? The IUF research team found no evidence that personal protective equipment was provided to workers applying pesticides on the Talup plantation ....including evidence of children working on the estate.

"Tea was the first own brand product sold by Tesco company founder Jack Cohen", commented IUF General Secretary Ron Oswald. "Tesco is currently running a campaign to revive the British tea time, yet at the same time they place at risk their reputation and the company's brand by selling teas sourced from plantations which pay so little attention to working conditions. The IUF calls on Tesco to take all necessary measures to ensure that all tea workers on estates producing for it are truly in compliance with international standards."

While the IUF acknowledges that Tesco is not the only UK retailer to buy from this plantation, Tesco claims that "In addition to its own strict standards", the company plays "a leading role within the wider industry to address ethical and other issues of concern." Its own claims, and its role as market leader, therefore impose a leading responsibility.

Tesco also claims to ensure that its "Suppliers adhere to our voluntary guidelines" and in reply to the UNITE resolution says "we are not in breach of any laws". Their tea supplier in Talup cannot make the same claim.

The full report is available here in PDF

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:

CHAIN STORES PROFIT/WORKERS SUFFER:

The following is an announcement from the Clean Clothes Campaign, an international alliance dedicated to improving working conditions in the garment industry. It's about their new report 'Cashing In'.

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REPORT RELEASE: Giant retailers cashing in on poverty wages:‏
New CCC Report released:

Giant retailers cashing in on poverty wages.

Carrefour, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, Walmart profit while supply chain workers face rights violations.

Amsterdam, 10 February 2009 – Major global retailers Carrefour, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, and Walmart are seeing massive profits and increasing market share in the garment sector, as workers in their supply chains face increasing poverty, appalling conditions, and serious workers rights violations, according to a new report released today by the Clean Clothes Campaign.

“With a heavy heart we live like prisoners,” said one young woman working at a Bangladesh factory producing for Carrefour, Tesco, and Walmart where there is no union and workers are told to lie to auditors about working conditions.

As the economic crisis worsens around the globe, CCC research in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Thailand published today in “Cashing In: Giant retailers, purchasing practices, and working conditions in the garment industry” shows how the discounter model used by these retailers squeezes suppliers and results in serious workers’ rights violations in their supply chains – enabling them to cash in as consumers and workers are forced to tighten their belts.

Workers at factories supplying these retailers told researchers about working weeks as high as 90 hours, overtime that is unpaid, wages so low that families are malnourished, and strong resistance to any attempts at worker organising. At the same time suppliers revealed how the supermarkets are cranking up the pressure to deliver faster and produce cheaper – a model that makes a mockery of the social commitments made by these companies.

As one worker at an Indian supplier for Carrefour, Tesco, and Walmart said of a corporate code of conduct: “We don’t read this, because reading it would not benefit us. We don’t get the benefits mentioned in it.”

The report reveals that failure to pay a living wage, increased use of temporary contracts, repression of union rights, excessive hours, and gender discrimination are key problems in the garment supply chains of these five global retailers. Retailers’ own purchasing practices – prices and schedules they impose on suppliers – create some of the biggest obstacles to implementing the very international labour standards they have committed to.

“The Giants' size and price-breaking approach make them leaders in the global race to the bottom on working conditions,” said Nina Ascoly, of the CCC’s International Secretariat.

FOR MORE INFORMATION READ “CASHING IN”:

· Download the executive summary: www.cleanclothes.org/betterbargain/images/docs/summary.pdf·

Download the full report:

www.cleanclothes.org/betterbargain/images/docs/cashing_in.pdf

*** Notes to editors ***

1. The Clean Clothes Campaign is an international network of trade unions and NGOs that works to improve conditions and empower workers in the global garment industry. The CCC network is made up for campaigns in 12 European countries and a worldwide network of 250 organisations. 2. All the retailers featured in the report have signed up to some form of labour rights code or initiative but they have done far too little to implement these standards. With profits in the billions, the Giants have the power to do much more. CCC’s Cashing In report lays out steps the Giants should take to improve conditions for garment workers in their supply chains. CCC is also seeking stronger action from governments, a call only strengthened by the recession’s flurry of corporate cost cutting which threatens even more extreme exploitation of the workers at the sharp end of the Giants increasingly cheap clothes. Read CCC’s recommendations for the Giants and others at www.cleanclothes.org/betterbargain/images/docs/recommendations.pdf

3. The Cashing In reports marks the launch of the CCC’s international Better Bargain campaign which shines a spotlight on the real cost of discounter clothing. For more information see: www.cleanclothes.org/betterbargain/

For any inquiries please contact:

Jeroen Merk, CCC International Secretariat

Tel: +31-20-412-2785, Mobile: +31646744662

E-mail: jeroen@cleanclothes.org

For images, see

http://www.cleanclothes.org/ccc_gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=11608

4. For additional company-specific interviews/background info contact the following:

Carrefour:

Carole Crabbe: tel. +32-49877 2313

carole@vetementspropres.be

Nayla Ajaltouni:

tel. +33-662-53-3456

n.ajaltouni@ethique-sur-etiquette.org

Walmart:

Trina Tocco: tel. +1-269-873-1000

trina.tocco@ilrf.org

Tesco:

Sam Maher: tel. +44-751 751 6943

sam@labourbehindthelabel.org

Aldi:

Dominic Kloos: tel. +49 - (0)2241 - 259549

kloos@suedwind-institut.de

Lidl

Gisela Burckhardt: tel. +49-228-94499682

gisela.burckhardt@web.de

-end-

Best regards,Clean Clothes Campaign International Secretariat

PO Box 11584

1001 GN Amsterdam

Netherlands

phone: ++ 31 (0)20-4122785

www.cleanclothes.org

AMERICAN LABOUR:

STOPPING THE WAL-MART CLONE:

The following is for our American readers as it is an exclusively American campaign. It is a campaign for public awareness and support on the part of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union against the expansion of the Tesco grocery chain into the USA under the name of 'Fresh and Easy'. This anti-union conglomerate has a horrible record on everything from food safety and the environment to the treatment of its workers, and it has been referred to as "the Wal-Mart of Britain". Go to the references given in the appeal below, and sign up for their petition if you are a resident of the USA.

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We need your help to stop the next Wal-Mart‏

A new non-union grocery chain called Fresh & Easy is opening in communities throughout Southern California, Nevada and Arizona.

What’s different about this non-union grocery chain is that Fresh & Easy is owned by Tesco, one of the largest and most aggressive corporations in the world. Tesco is known as the "Wal-Mart of Britain" and they’re now opening stores in the United States under the name Fresh & Easy.

Tesco has refused to meet with UFCW leaders, and just like Wal-Mart, they want their stores to be non-union.

Tesco has already opened over 60 stores and are planning to open a further 150 by the end of the year. We cannot afford another company like Wal-Mart in our communities. Here’s what you can do:

Go to FreshandEasyFacts.com today to sign the pledge not to shop at Fresh & Easy.

Tell all your friends and family to sign the pledge not to shop at Fresh & Easy.
We are always stronger when we stand together!
Please go to FreshandEasyFacts.com to learn more, and share this important information with your family and friends.

Sincerely,
The Fresh & Easy Facts Team

Fresh and Easy Facts is a project of grocery workers, food industry professionals and the United Food and Commercial Workers.