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Tescos Not Welcome!

Camera Boy | 23.09.2007 13:28 | Cambridge

Yesterday (22/09/2007), a small but significant contingent of local activists picketed and flyered in front of the proposed site of a new Tescos store on Mill Road, Cambridge.

It's a sign!
It's a sign!

Local residents show their objection.
Local residents show their objection.

Sign here for your community!
Sign here for your community!

We are not amused!
We are not amused!

The first of many Pickets..?
The first of many Pickets..?


It has come to light in the last few days that Tesco are interested in possibly setting up shop at the former site of Wilco on Mill Road, Cambridge.

However, it is not known at present whether or not they have definitely submitted a planning application for this site, but it is known that they have contacted the City Council and shown an interest in the premises in question.

There are many on Mill Road (some local shopowners amongst them) who feel this would be a shop too far, changing as it would the unique dynamic of Mill Road as both a place of business for family and alternative concerns, and as a community.

It could also have a negative knock-on effect on the income of local shops, which sell the same or similar produce.

There is already a KFC on this road, suggesting that the persuasive power of money and the profit motive is more important to city planners than the local community's concerns.

Activists have already hinted that if this development were to go ahead, there may well be regular pickets in front of the store, potentially tarnishing the Tesco reputation within the town.

Camera Boy


Additions

Bangladeshi workers riot against sweatshop poverty

24.09.2007 10:04

Tesco have pledged to investigate conditions at a chain of sweatshops in Bangladesh after workers demanding better pay rioted and set fire to a building yesterday.
More than 1,000 poverty-stricken clothing makers stormed the Dhaka headquarters of Nassa, a chain of 28 factories, whose clients include Tesco, H&M and Primark.
The violent scenes in Bangladeshi capital come a month after a Sunday Mirror investigation exposed the appalling conditions suffered by Nassa factory workers. Several revealed how they were beaten for not working quickly enough on gruelling 14-hour shifts which earn them just 4p an hour.
Nassa director Khandakar Alam pledged to investigate their complaints - but in fact little has changed. The lack of action - and the fact staff had not been paid their traditional bonus for working during religious festival Eid - sparked the riot.
Yesterday a spokesman for Tesco, who sell clothes made at two Nassa factories, said: "We are very proud of our high ethical standards. As a responsible organisation we will of course discuss the issue with Nassa to make sure we understand the issues the workers were protesting about."
H&M and Primark did not comment. Other High Street giants including Asda, M&S, Debenhams and Woolworths also produce clothes in Bangladesh, the third poorest country in the world.
There are more than 4,000 garment factories in Dhaka. In many, thousands of workers are dangerously packed into a tiny space to meet garment orders.

Danny
- Homepage: http://www.nosweat.org.uk/node/598


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