ASDA - beyond the smiles
Walter Want | 13.12.2006 12:13 | Globalisation | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | Liverpool
Leak reveals Asda’s strategic assault on UK working conditions
Bosses at supermarket giant Asda are planning a series of anti - union and cost cutting schemes at the expense of working conditions and workers’ rights, according to leaked documents obtained by campaign group War on Want.
Bosses at supermarket giant Asda are planning a series of anti - union and cost cutting schemes at the expense of working conditions and workers’ rights, according to leaked documents obtained by campaign group War on Want.
Leak reveals Asda’s strategic assault on UK working conditions
Bosses at supermarket giant Asda are planning a series of anti - union and cost cutting schemes at the expense of working conditions and workers’ rights, according to leaked documents obtained by campaign group War on Want.
ASDA sign
The scheme, known internally as the ‘Chip Away Strategy’, seeks to:
* Remove sick pay for the first three days of absence
* Encourage supervisors to ‘take the credence out of breaks’ by ending rest times early, thereby ‘leading by example’
* Implement the use of ‘single man loading’ for jobs that involve lifting, even though Asda’s own risk assessment acknowledges the need for two people to undertake such tasks
* Remove the right of staff to take industrial disputes to the arbitration service, ACAS
The revelations coincide with the launch of War on Want’s Asda Wal-Mart: The Alternative Report, which shows how the multinational food giant keeps costs low by demanding ever lower prices from Third World suppliers and restricting union activity in the UK and US, while forcing harsh working regimes on staff.
Louise Richards, Chief Executive of War on Want, said, “Asda Wal-Mart makes a big deal of its low prices, but behind the bargains exists a trail of exploitation and hardship. Asda Wal-Mart is riding roughshod over workers on a global scale. The government must step in and bring the activities of big business under control.”
Asda Wal-Mart has already attracted negative publicity for its poor labour relations record. One internal audit of 25,000 employees in 128 stores in the USA found 1,371 violations of child labour laws, including minors working too late, too many hours a day and during school hours. It also found 60,000 instances where workers were forced to work through breaks, and 16,000 where they worked through meal times.
Of the ten richest people in the world, four are members of the Walton family, heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune. Wal-Mart documents released in April 2005 reveal that the company’s CEO Lee Scott was paid over $17.5 million in total during 2004.
Bosses at supermarket giant Asda are planning a series of anti - union and cost cutting schemes at the expense of working conditions and workers’ rights, according to leaked documents obtained by campaign group War on Want.
ASDA sign
The scheme, known internally as the ‘Chip Away Strategy’, seeks to:
* Remove sick pay for the first three days of absence
* Encourage supervisors to ‘take the credence out of breaks’ by ending rest times early, thereby ‘leading by example’
* Implement the use of ‘single man loading’ for jobs that involve lifting, even though Asda’s own risk assessment acknowledges the need for two people to undertake such tasks
* Remove the right of staff to take industrial disputes to the arbitration service, ACAS
The revelations coincide with the launch of War on Want’s Asda Wal-Mart: The Alternative Report, which shows how the multinational food giant keeps costs low by demanding ever lower prices from Third World suppliers and restricting union activity in the UK and US, while forcing harsh working regimes on staff.
Louise Richards, Chief Executive of War on Want, said, “Asda Wal-Mart makes a big deal of its low prices, but behind the bargains exists a trail of exploitation and hardship. Asda Wal-Mart is riding roughshod over workers on a global scale. The government must step in and bring the activities of big business under control.”
Asda Wal-Mart has already attracted negative publicity for its poor labour relations record. One internal audit of 25,000 employees in 128 stores in the USA found 1,371 violations of child labour laws, including minors working too late, too many hours a day and during school hours. It also found 60,000 instances where workers were forced to work through breaks, and 16,000 where they worked through meal times.
Of the ten richest people in the world, four are members of the Walton family, heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune. Wal-Mart documents released in April 2005 reveal that the company’s CEO Lee Scott was paid over $17.5 million in total during 2004.
Walter Want