23 January 2007

As the Competition Commission asks for examples of unfair treatment of suppliers in the UK and worldwide, ActionAid says that Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys and Morrisons are abusing their position to squeeze ever-more profits from some of the world’s poorest people.

More than three million people in developing countries depend on selling fruit and vegetables to UK supermarkets and are seeing their wages and living conditions worsen as supermarket profits soar.

Dr Claire Melamed, head of ActionAid UK’s Trade & Corporates campaign says: “From banana workers in Costa Rica to fruit pickers in South Africa, poor people worldwide are paying the price of the supermarkets’ drive for lower costs.  
 
“The Competition Commission already has evidence of the pressure the big chains put on suppliers in the UK and worldwide.
 
“It is vital that when they produce their final report they act to rein in supermarkets’ dizzying market power and make sure that poor people get a fair deal.”
 
ActionAid is calling on the Competition Commission to recommend a compulsory code of conduct and a supermarkets “tsar” to oversee the sector.