Obama urges Tesco to unionise US stores

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By Jonathan Birchall in New York and Andrew Ward in Washington

Published: June 25 2008 20:17 | Last updated: June 25 2008 20:17

Barack Obama has again called on Tesco, the UK supermarket group, to let unions represent workers at its new US chain. The move comes as the Democratic candidate seeks to reinforce his labour support ahead of November’s presidential elections.

Mr Obama urged Tesco to meet the UFCW grocery workers’ union to discuss “the principles of partnership” at its Fresh & Easy stores in a letter to Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive, on the eve of the retailer’s annual meeting.

Mr Obama is on Thursday due to accept the endorsement of AFL-CIO, the largest grouping of US unions, which would unleash its powerful fundraising and voter-turnout operation behind his campaign.

Supporting the UFCW campaign is a comparatively easy way for Mr Obama to demonstrate his pro-labour credentials. With only 60 small US stores so far, Tesco does not have the local political clout of Wal-Mart, the main target of the union, or other established non-unionised grocers.

Tesco, which plans to roll out hundreds of Fresh & Easy stores in California, Arizona and Nevada, has become a bugbear for the UFCW, which represents more than 1.3m employees at US supermarkets.

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