Tesco Welfare and the Poverty Pay Industrial Complex
I noticed this new sign outside the entrance to my local Tesco on Friday:
Food bank collections inside supermarkets are not a new phenomenon, but they are a growing one, as demand at charitable food bank organisations like the Trussell Trust sky-rockets. I wrote a little bit about the incredible rise in the use of food banks here, in my (somewhat sporadic) openDemocracy column - anecdotally, a lot of the families forced to use food banks for the first time in the last 18 months do have earned income coming in, but it's just not enough, as the scourges of underemployment, welfare cuts and widespread wage suppression take their toll.
Of course, it does Tesco PLC, the second-largest retailer in the world after Walmart, with over 3,000 stores in the UK alone, no harm to be associated with this Victorian-style charity-not-social security regression David Cameron is implementing - with the enthusiastic support of most of the British media and large portions of the Labour party. It's particularly important they're not seen as a heartless profiteering behemoth when their recession-stricken customers are starting to leave them for budget chains like Lidl and Aldi. So why not watch this heart-warming Tesco PR video with some words from Tesco's smiling Dan Jones, who is the Group Future Coach for the Tesco stores in the South West (his actual job title)? In a wonderful management-speak Freudian slip, he says "it's a great way of putting something back", acknowledging, uncontroversially I guess, that the rest of the time they are taking things away.
When you're done basking in the warm "buzz" of the video. why not hit up the #EveryCanHelps Twitter hashtag to find out how Tesco have been positioned as the moral conscience of post-welfare state Britain?
This won't be news to any of the millions of people who've worked in a supermarket in Britain, but Tesco (like Sainsburys and the rest of the big four chains) pay substantially below the living wage. For a powerful elaboration of what that actually means, and how it dovetails perfectly with the rise in the need for food banks, I implore you to watch this excellent 10 minute video on poverty pay in supermarkets from Paul Mason on Newsnight:
Food bank collections inside supermarkets are not a new phenomenon, but they are a growing one, as demand at charitable food bank organisations like the Trussell Trust sky-rockets. I wrote a little bit about the incredible rise in the use of food banks here, in my (somewhat sporadic) openDemocracy column - anecdotally, a lot of the families forced to use food banks for the first time in the last 18 months do have earned income coming in, but it's just not enough, as the scourges of underemployment, welfare cuts and widespread wage suppression take their toll.
Of course, it does Tesco PLC, the second-largest retailer in the world after Walmart, with over 3,000 stores in the UK alone, no harm to be associated with this Victorian-style charity-not-social security regression David Cameron is implementing - with the enthusiastic support of most of the British media and large portions of the Labour party. It's particularly important they're not seen as a heartless profiteering behemoth when their recession-stricken customers are starting to leave them for budget chains like Lidl and Aldi. So why not watch this heart-warming Tesco PR video with some words from Tesco's smiling Dan Jones, who is the Group Future Coach for the Tesco stores in the South West (his actual job title)? In a wonderful management-speak Freudian slip, he says "it's a great way of putting something back", acknowledging, uncontroversially I guess, that the rest of the time they are taking things away.
When you're done basking in the warm "buzz" of the video. why not hit up the #EveryCanHelps Twitter hashtag to find out how Tesco have been positioned as the moral conscience of post-welfare state Britain?
We've seen some great photos today of food collections across the UK - amazing effort from all who have volunteered & donated #EveryCanHelps
— Tesco PLC (@TescoMedia) July 6, 2013
If you're stocking up for a BBQ today why not put an extra can in your basket and do your bit to help feed people in need? #everycanhelps
— Tesco PLC (@TescoMedia) July 6, 2013
Have you donated to the @TescoMedia food collection today? #foodbanks helped 346,992 people last year & need your support #everycanhelpsAccording to their Twitter feed Tesco were collecting in every single store in the country on Friday. Who needs a welfare state, right?
— The Trussell Trust (@TrussellTrust) July 6, 2013
This won't be news to any of the millions of people who've worked in a supermarket in Britain, but Tesco (like Sainsburys and the rest of the big four chains) pay substantially below the living wage. For a powerful elaboration of what that actually means, and how it dovetails perfectly with the rise in the need for food banks, I implore you to watch this excellent 10 minute video on poverty pay in supermarkets from Paul Mason on Newsnight:
posted by dan hancox at
7:48 PM
.jpg "The Village Against The World")
4 Comments:
I wonder if anyone working for Tesco's are having to use a food-bank? That would be interesting.
exactly - very good question. i think there's every chance to be honest
The problem is not so much that the wages are too low but that the cost of living is too high for these people. Rent , energy and food are just too high in rigged markets.
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