'Tesco recently announced a £2.2bn profit. But you can bet they didn't announce that some of these profits are made at the expense of thousands of women workers in South Africa.' -- Action Aid

In 1995, Tesco overtook Sainsbury's as the UK's leading supermarket chain. Tesco has 31.5% of the grocery sector, whereas its rivals at number two Asda and number three Sainsbury's each have less than 17%. Since Sir Terry Leahy took charge of Tesco in 1997, profits have trebled to more than 2 billion pounds, the share price last week stood at just over 440p. Tesco has nearly 1,900 stores in the UK. They also have stores in 12 countries worldwide, including Thailand, China, Poland, the Czech Republic

In their last Annual Accounts, Tesco recorded profits in excess of two billion pounds. Tesco now takes one in every three pounds we spend on groceries.

How do they do it?

The Tesco Trojan Horse

At at least two locations in north London, Tesco has applied for and got a change of use by applying under false colours.

One of these applications was for a carpet shop. Once the change of use had been obtained, Tesco under their own name applied for a variant of the playing consent to enable the shop to become a Tesco. Had the planning authority known it was Tesco, they would not have approved the change of use. Now Tesco has shown their hand, the variation in planning consent has been rejected and the matter has gone to a Public Inquiry.

Obtaining Planning Consent

Tesco has a large superstore on the edge of Guildford. A couple of years ago, Tesco applied for 24-hour operation. The council consented, even though the superstore backs onto a housing estate and it was known the problems that would be caused. But at least the councillors did have the honesty to concede it was not what they wanted, but they did not believe the council had the money to take on Tesco in a major planning battle.

Not Always Tesco

Much as we can blame Tesco, the other major supermarkets play the same game and they can usually be relied upon to find a compliant council that gives them what they want.

In Farnborough, the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor granted consent to KPI (a Kuwaiti-financed front-company of property developer St Modwen) for a Sainsbury's superstore. The superstore will face out of the town, a small estate of 28 maisonettes, social housing, is earmarked for destruction for the car park. The developer having destroyed most of the town, the superstore will destroy what little is left, leaving two superstores (the other is Asda, in an area saturated with superstores), junk food outlets and charity shops. At the planning committee that granted consent, not a single councillor questioned the impact a superstore would have, even though plenty of evidence had been submitted on the impact. Since consent was granted, two councillors have repeatedly raised the issue, only to be vilified by fellow councillors. At the most recent council meeting, when these two councillors tried to raise questions they were shouted down and told to shut up and sit down. The leader of the council and the chief executive for the last half a dozen years have had regular closed door meetings with the developer.

In Upton Park, in east London, St Modwen are trying with the help of the local mayor to destroy Queen's Market for a superstore. It was claimed to be Asda, but Asda have pulled out due to the widespread public opposition to the scheme.

It is Possible to Say No

Saxmundham, a small Suffolk market town, said no to Tesco. That was eight years ago. Saxmundham has bucked the trend of closure of small retailers, which now provide the outlets for local producers.

Tolworth, near Kingston-upon Thames in south-west London, has recently said no to Tesco. Following a massive public campaign against Tesco, Tesco withdrew their planning application for a superstore.

Exploitation

Many milk producers have been driven out of business by Tesco and other large supermarkets forcing farm gate prices below the cost of production.

Tesco was a founder member of the Ethical Trading Initiative. Tesco is the largest importer of fruit into Europe.

In South Africa, women on farms supplying grapes to Tesco are being paid 38p an hour for an 11-hour day. They have to stand all day, with nowhere to sit, are allowed only very short breaks. They have no protection against hazardous pesticides. If it is raining, or there is no work, they get no pay and have to seek alternative remuneration, for example, prostitution. The amount the women are paid is not enough to feed their kids.

These issues of exploitation of women in South Africa was raised at the last Tesco AGM by Action Aid. [see You and Yours, BBC Radio 4, Friday 23 February 2007]

The argument from Tesco is that they are helping these women by bringing trade to South Africa!

We Have a Choice

We have a choice. We do not have to shop at Tesco or any other supermarket. We can buy off farmers markets, buy through veg box schemes, buy organic, buy Fair Trade. We can lobby against bad developments, plans for supermarkets, although how successful we are is as much inversely proportional to how corrupt are our local councillors as to the strength of our campaign.

Websites

 http://www.ethicaltrade.org/
 http://www.tescopoly.org/
 http://www.actionaid.org.uk/
 http://www.wfp.org.za/
 http://www.friendsofqueensmarket.org.uk/
 http://www.thetruthinrushmoor.co.uk/
 http://www.neweconomics.org/
 http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/
 http://www.farmersmarkets.net/
 http://www.theecologist.org/boxscheme
 http://www.farm.org.uk/

References

Patrick Barkham, The town that said no to Tesco, The Guardian, 28 June 2006
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1807390,00.html

Joanna Blythman, Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets, Fourth Estate, 2004

Sherrod Brown, Myths of Free Trade, The New Press, 2006

Molly Conisbee et al, Clone Town Britain: The loss of local identity on the nation’s high streets, New Economics Foundation, September 2004

Caroline Cranbrook, The Real Choice: How Local Foods can Survive the Supermarket Onslaught, CPRE, June 2006

The Ecologist, September 2004 {special edition on damaging impact of supermarkets}

Ben Farmer, Grocers flourish in town that saw off Tesco, Daily Mail, 26 June 2006

Lucy Farndon, Consumer backlash spoils the party for Tesco's Leahy, Daily Mail, 22 February 2007

Tom Kelly, How people power put the brake on Tesco march, Daily Mail, 22 February 2007

Felicity Lawrence, Not on the Label: What Really Goes Into the Food on Your Plate, Penguin, 2004
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/books/notonthelabel.htm

Markets create twice as many jobs as supermarkets and food is half the price, New Economics Foundation, 22 May 2006
 http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/marketsvssupermarkets220506.aspx

Peter Marshall, Queen's Market - Women's March, Indymedia UK, 30 October 2006
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/10/354701.html?c=on

Keith Parkins, A sense of the masses - a manifesto for the new revolution, www.heureka.clara.net, October 2003
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/democracy.htm

Keith Parkins, Sowing Seeds of Dissent, Indymedia UK, 6 September 2004
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/09/297391.html

Keith Parkins, Seeds of Dissent, September 2004
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/seeds.htm

Keith Parkins, Queens Market, Indymedia UK, 11 April 2005
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/04/308927.html

Keith Parkins, Asda v Queens Market, Indymedia UK, 13 April 2005
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/04/309075.html

Keith Parkins, Curitiba – Designing a sustainable city, www.heureka.clara.net, April 2006
 http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/curitiba.htm

Keith Parkins, Tesco post record profits, UK Indymedia, 2 May 2006
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/05/339526.html

Keith Parkins, Tesco - Every little hurts, UK Indymedia, 18 August 2006
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/08/348652.html?c=on

Keith Parkins, Town centres – a tale of two councils, Indymedia UK, 12 January 2007
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/01/359825.html?c=on

Keith Parkins, Do we need industrial agriculture?, Indymedia UK, 19 February 2007
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/02/362714.html

Keith Parkins, Celtic invites its young supporters to experience fine dining, Indymedia Scotland, 26 February 2007
 http://scotland.indymedia.org/newswire/index.php

Pauline Rowe, Saving Queens Market from the developers, Indymedia UK, 17 October 2007
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/10/353780.html

Tesco profits at expense of poor, Action Aid, undated
 http://www.actionaid.org.uk/1578/tesco_profits_at_expense_of_poor.html