31 October 2007

ActionAid today welcomed the preliminary findings of the Competition Commission’s inquiry into supermarkets – which has suggested that the retail giants could face a watchdog to curb their power.

Jenny Ricks, Supermarkets Campaigner at ActionAid, said: "It’s been clear for a long time that supermarkets’ spiralling power over their suppliers is having a negative impact on poor workers in developing countries. We are pleased that the CC has found that supermarkets impose unacceptable costs and risks on suppliers.

"By considering the possibility of a supermarkets watchdog, the CC has acknowledged that supermarkets are unable or unwilling to sort these problems themselves. As the inquiry continues the CC must ensure that they follow through and make sure that poor people around the world are no longer paying the price for supermarket profits."

ActionAid is calling for an independent watchdog to curb abuses of supermarket buying power against producers and workers in developing countries.

The CC’s Provisional Findings, released October 31st, found that ‘the exercise of buyer power by certain grocery retailers…transfer(s) excessive risks and unexpected costs to suppliers.’

In April this year, ActionAid published Who Pays? – a report which looked in to how thousands of workers, many of them women, have been locked in to poverty pay and dangerous conditions because of the big four supermarkets' demands for ever lower prices.

The campaign that followed has already attracted 25,000 signatures and continues to grow.