How do you manage to watch so much TV?

No, no, Mintball, it brings the efficiencies of the market to bear on that previously state-owned enterprise, didn't you know that?
I mean, look at all the choice of water suppliers and sewage companies you now have.

Morrisons are no angels either.

I used to work for them when I was a student, the senior managers in store were nothing but bullies. Staffing levels were always ridiculously low I regularly saw supervisory staff work over 70 hours a week. I even once saw a female member of staff face disciplinary action because she refused to dress as Harry Potter to sell more dvd's because she felt it was degrading dressing as a male character. More recently I know of staff who've been paid off as they've been constructively dismissed after being bullied.

[url=http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/05/tescos-treatment-its-workers-shows-why-we-must-stop-subsidising-itTesco employees to pay the price of corporate failure[/url

Still, "every little helps" eh?

It's come to something when a tory MP starts slagging corporate greed and denial of workers' rights

To be fair there are some who are prepared to put constituents before party and speak out, they are usually the ones who are not "names" and certainly not in ministerial positions, in fact if my MP ever decided to chase a career in party politics and a ministerial car then I'm afraid thats the last we'd see of him in the locality - can you imagine what it must be like to have a local issue and have George Osborne as your sitting MP.

No worse than it would have been having David Miliband as your representative. Apparently Blair threw a hissy fit when Ed reused to allow one of Blair's chosen to fight the South Shields by-elecction. At least Ed insisted on someone who sounded reasonably local

Tesco will always be the worst until it treats it staff better. Are they Britain's worst major employer?

Just walked out of Aldi with a huge trolley full of stuff, fruit looks very fresh as does the veg. Cooked and fresh meat is good quality as well. £47, bargain, would have paid £70 at Asda.

Their Parmesan cheese is way cheaper than others'. Also they have a good range of quality snacks, etc. Certain of their products are better than most supermarkets too - you just need to work out which suits you.

Bit of a sweeping statement about treating staff better. How do you know how their >500k staff are treated?
How would you define a bad employer? (Or a good employer, for that matter).

For example, someone I know:

At interview told no full time jobs but on a 24 hour contract could get another part-time job. When contract comes need to be available 6 days a week full time (ie ourtside contracted hours).

Regularly puts in an extra 2 to 3 hours a day unpaid. No pay for breaks. No overtime for working long-shifts at short notice.

Hourly rate offered in writing was actually less when it came to signing a contract!

Contract wholly obe0sided in favour of the 'er.

So called "managers" texting at 11.00pm to ask if can go in at 9.00am next day.

The latest wheeze was that all staff at the branch had to go into an interview and JUSTIFY ever hour of any time 24/7 when they couldn't go in (even though virtually minimum waged, part-timers. Also had to name a number of other branches they could work at if called upon. Given that bus fares / train fares take up half a shifts work it is a bit unrealistc to expect none drivers to get to out of the way places in the middle of the night!

In short they are a horror story and should closed down legislatively. As the staff are unhappy so are the customers.

As to products - they can even make (sell) the cheapest foods cheaper and c**p! Got some pork scratchings recently - but they'd even managed to find a cheaper version and sell it for more. It was disgusting and full of air!

Their stores are dated.

Their in store cafes are vile.

They are so far behind Waitrose, Morrisons, Sainsbury, Aldi, etc from a customers perspective they will start to fail unless they change. They have had their day and are sinking back (hopefully) to whence they came.

For example, someone I know:

At interview told no full time jobs but on a 24 hour contract could get another part-time job. When contract comes need to be available 6 days a week full time (ie ourtside contracted hours).

Regularly puts in an extra 2 to 3 hours a day unpaid. No pay for breaks. No overtime for working long-shifts at short notice.

Hourly rate offered in writing was actually less when it came to signing a contract!

Contract wholly obe0sided in favour of the 'er.

So called "managers" texting at 11.00pm to ask if can go in at 9.00am next day.

The latest wheeze was that all staff at the branch had to go into an interview and JUSTIFY ever hour of any time 24/7 when they couldn't go in (even though virtually minimum waged, part-timers. Also had to name a number of other branches they could work at if called upon. Given that bus fares / train fares take up half a shifts work it is a bit unrealistc to expect none drivers to get to out of the way places in the middle of the night!

In short they are a horror story and should closed down legislatively. As the staff are unhappy so are the customers.

As to products - they can even make (sell) the cheapest foods cheaper and c**p! Got some pork scratchings recently - but they'd even managed to find a cheaper version and sell it for more. It was disgusting and full of air!

Their stores are dated.

Their in store cafes are vile.

They are so far behind Waitrose, Morrisons, Sainsbury, Aldi, etc from a customers perspective they will start to fail unless they change. They have had their day and are sinking back (hopefully) to whence they came.

Allegedly Tesco staff (at least at one branch) are told to:

- bake products when the input material is past it's use by day
- re-freeze items marked do not re-freeze
etc, etc, etc

I'm no Tesco cheerleader but you are way off the mark there and I've eaten in enough of them.
Oh and they are sub-contracted to a catering company who supply the staff food too.

T

Really? How many Morrisons have you been in? They are stuck in the '80s.

Similar with Lidl.

If you like certain "continental" foods (or foreign muck as my old lady called it), such as salamis and other cooked meats and cheeses, then they're way ahead of British supermarkets. Lidl also occasionally sell German Spaetzl (an egg noodle) that is a great alternative to potatoes. The last time they had it in our local store we bought 30 packs of the stuff.

But one thing I can recommend is their own brand tomato ketchup. I was always a Heinz man and couldn't bear Daddies or even worse, the "red sauce" usually found in cafes. Then someone (Minty IIRC), suggested I try Lidl's own, it just tastes of tomatoes, no hint of vinegar or anything else, just tomatoes. And it's even cheaper than the chips you put it on.

Yup, straight out of the 80s is this



When was the last time you visited a Morrisons?

Quote ="Big Graeme"I'm no Tesco cheerleader but you are way off the mark there and I've eaten in enough of them. Oh and they are sub-contracted to a catering company who supply the staff food too. TReally? How many Morrisons have you been in? They are stuck in the '80s.'" Are you in Scotland? Maybe the Tesco cafes are better there. But the ones I've tried to eat in (granted not for some time as they look so awful and my memories are bad) have been disgusting. Morrisons - the ones I've been in are good - quite a few. The local one (their flagship store in the South) is good - deli with proper continental meats, nice wine display, steam racks to give the impression of keeping the salad fresh, etc www.bing.com/images/search?q=mor ... ORM=HDRSC2

Quote ="Big Graeme"I'm no Tesco cheerleader but you are way off the mark there and I've eaten in enough of them. Oh and they are sub-contracted to a catering company who supply the staff food too. TReally? How many Morrisons have you been in? They are stuck in the '80s.'" Are you in Scotland? Maybe the Tesco cafes are better there. But the ones I've tried to eat in (granted not for some time as they look so awful and my memories are bad) have been disgusting. Morrisons - the ones I've been in are good - quite a few. The local one (their flagship store in the South) is good - deli with proper continental meats, nice wine display, steam racks to give the impression of keeping the salad fresh, etc www.bing.com/images/search?q=mor ... ORM=HDRSC2

Four of them on Thursday, and they didn't have anything like that.

It's true but you missed the "e" at the end of spaetzle or "Spätzle" Just sayin'

We have allsorts of technology south of the border

So it seems, what the hell are they?

I know for a fact that Asda are interested.
They use the mystery shopper to make sure staff are 'happy to help' those that are get a bonus.
Those that are not are reminded why it is important.

As do all the major supermarkets.

Then surely Minty can't be right that they are not remotely interested.