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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TAGS
"Supply Chain Management", "Risk Management"
Tesco under fire for supplier relations
British retail giant Tesco - the third largest in the world - has come under fire from a worker's union over the conditions that some of its UK suppliers ask their staff to work under.
Unite, a union which represents many of Tesco's suppliers' staff, tabled a resolution at the company's AGM that calls for action to end the alleged exploitation and discrimination of workers employed by companies in the UK and Ireland that supply meat to the supermarket. "Unite believes the issues highlighted by the resolution represent a systematic failure by Tesco either to anticipate or properly manage its exposure to brand, reputational and political risks," the union said in a statement.
Its deputy general secretary said, "The exploitation of migrant agency workers - and undercutting of indigenous workers - divides workplaces, damages community social cohesion and fuels racism. We have organised all workers around fair and equal treatment of all workers. Now we take their cause to the AGM of Tesco shareholders, holding Terry Leahy to account."
The resolution has also gained the support of some hugely powerful investors. The Pensions Investments Research Council (whose members hold £1.5 trillion worth of assets, the West Yorkshire Pension Fund and the Equality and Human Rights Commission have all come out in support of Unite's action.
"Tesco is an outstanding company which is brilliantly managed and run, with good labour relations and policies in the UK. In those circumstances, what we are asking is that those standards apply to the rest of their supply chain to the best of their ability," said Ian Greenwood, chair of the pensions committee of West Yorkshire Pension Fund.
Procurement Tags - Risk Management, Supply Chain Management, Tesco
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