Sorry because your are Anti-Asda, doesnt mean that everyone else is , and as a matter of Fact you could say exactly the same about Tesco and the other Supermarket/Superstores, they all work mainly in the same way, and while i am at it WHAT about the TESCO takeover of loads of small shops that have now become Tesco Express outlets dont you or the rest of you anti-everything people ever talk about that!!!
I watched the hastings observer video tonight. I was interested to see that on one of the banners the video showed was a statement about how good an employer ASDA is!
"In February 2006, Asda was fined £850,000 for offering employees of a newly taken over distribution depot a pay rise to give up union rights. An employment tribunal found the American-owned supermarket chain guilty of promising 340 distribution staff a 10 per cent pay rise to give up the collective agreement negotiated by the GMB union – an act which is illegal under a 1992 labour relations law. The court ordered Asda to pay £2,500 to each employee at the County Durham depot." Source: Asda Wal-Mart guilty of anti-trade union activity", Food & Drink Europe, 14 February 2006.
"In August 2005, the manager of the Wakefield depot read out what were called "foreign-sounding" names over the public address system ordering them to report immediately to the manager's office. The workers, who were all Muslims, were ordered to produce evidence that they were not illegal immigrants. At least one was threatened with the sack unless he produced his passport the next day. The highly public initiative by management, which came within weeks of the 7 July bombings in London, was followed by a spate of graffiti at the depot in Wakefield expressing hatred and contempt for Muslims and their religion." (ASDA was subsequently fined) Source: Barrie Clement, "Asda managers told Asian staff to show passports", The Independent, 14 December 2005.
"An Asda worker sacked for leaving the shopfloor to take an epilepsy pill won more than £7,000 in compensation for unfair dismissal. Paul Turner told an employment tribunal he was away for just seven minutes to take his medication because he was feeling unwell. But the tribunal heard managers at the Asda warehouse in Greater Manchester accused him of taking a break to watch last year's European cup final. Turner, who had worked for the supermarket giant for 10 years, made his claim under the Disability Discrimination Act."
Source: http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2006/03/14/34355/can-wal-mart-keep-unions-out.html
"Numerous studies indicate that Wal-Mart is a net job-killer. The Public Policy Institute of California found that Wal-Mart stores reduce employment in their local county's retail sector by 2 to 4 percent." Source:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061016/wal_mart
The jobs which ASDA will bring to the local community will be part-time, no-unioned, low-paid, no-rights, temporary work. No local contractors will be used to build the site if they get planning permission. No local drivers or depots will be used to deliver to ASDA. (It will come down the motorway known locally as the A21). A rough guide to how popular this work will be is this: ask yourself, do any of you aspire for your family to work at ASDA?
Of course, as recently as December last year ASDA showed its caring side by colluding with other supermarkets to fix the price of milk. When caught out, and after having admitted it, they claimed they were doing it to help the farmers! Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7132108.stm
ASDA is not required to stock any local produce. If it does so is down to the manager. There is "a shelf" in ASDA stores for local produce!
Let's hope there is enough in the way of objections to let the council know ASDA is not only not wanted here in Silverhill, but not in Hastings at all!