Tesco hit by protests over Polish workers’ status

TESCO stores in London, Dublin and Poland have been targeted by protesters in a dispute over Polish workers at one of the supermarket group’s distribution centres in Ireland.

The row will be embarrassing for Tesco, which has tried to tackle staff shortages by recruiting hundreds of staff from Poland over the past 12 months. Two Polish workers, Zbyszek Bakala and Radek Sawicki, who had worked at Tesco’s largest Irish distribution centre, at Tallaght, employed by a recruitment agency. They claim to have been “sacked” after complaining about working conditions at the warehouse. They had also objected to the fact that Tesco staff were paid more than those employed by the agency.

The protestors are demanding the reinstatement of the pair and want agency staff who have worked for Tesco for more than three months taken on full-time. They are also calling for the scrapping of daily targets for staff working in distribution centres.

A spokesman for Tesco, Britain’s biggest supermarket chain, insisted that the operation of the warehouse had been unaffected — despite reports of walkouts in support of the “sacked” workers.

The All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ) has backed the protest, writing to the British Chamber of Commerce in Poland and the chairman of Tesco Polska to register its concern. Tesco stores in Warsaw, Poznan, Gdynia and Szczecin have been picketed by protesters, supported also by the Greens Party activists (Zieloni 2004).

Poland is one of Tesco’s largest international markets, but despite having paid £390m to buy rival retailer Hit, Tesco has yet to make a profit. Retailers in Poland have suffered from a depressed economy and tighter planning regulations.

A spokesman for Tesco insisted that the dispute was an isolated incident: “In recruiting staff, we thrive on Tesco being an attractive place to work.

“Feedback from the Polish workers in our UK business is very positive. They like working for Tesco and a number have already been promoted and are looking forward to successful careers with us,” he added.

(Source: The Sunday Times)