Yesterday, Wal-Mart opened its first British supercentre, in
Bristol. Over the next fine years, this will be followed by nine
more. Keeping an assortment of more than 40,000 products, the
Wal-Mart Asda supercentres are huge hypermarkets. The one in Bristol
is as large as one and a half British football pitch.
The next two centres will be placed
in Havant, Hampshire and Minworth in the West Midlands. Asda, which
was taken over by Wal-Mart last year, says that it will invest 50
million British Pounds, equivalent to 76 million U.S. Dollars into
these centres.
In the United Kingdom, the opening of
the first Wal-Mart Asda supercentre has lead to an intensified price
war as the company tries to take market shares from competitors.
This can lead to substantial job losses in British retailing and
will surely put pressure on wages and collective agreement benefits.
At home in the United States,
Asda is a bad employer, paying its workers less than unionised
companies. Large number of Wal-Mart workers do not have medical
insurance. Any attempts of workers to organise in trade unions are
roughly attacked by management. Nevertheless, Uni-affiliated UFCW
has made important inroads in the American Wal-Mart stores.
Also in Germany, labour relations are
turning sour. Last week, Wal-Mart workers in the western state of
Nordrhein-Westfalen were on strike for two days, to put pressure on
the company to sign a collective agreement.
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