Bullying Tesco bosses have plumbed new depths sacking 65 drivers involved in an lawful, official trade union dispute. The 150 drivers at the Tesco distribution centre in West Lothian will be on strike from midnight tonight. Taxi's arrived at drivers homes on Monday night with letters telling the men they were sacked (see this website for earlier reports).

It is the latest attempt by Tesco bosses and their slack-jawed management to break the workers. Throughout the dispute the antics of Tesco have been aggressive, vicious and completely out of order. The drivers, members of T&G Unite section, have been subjected to disgraceful bully-boy methods, after refusing to sign new contracts that would have seen their wages cut by £6,000 and unsatisfactory changes to their contracts and conditions.

The 65 who were sacked, received no warning and told how private hire taxi's were paid £95 to take the sacking letters to their homes late on Monday night. It appears that Tesco may have broken the law. Employers are bound by statute to give workers at least 90 days notice. Tesco released a statement accusing the drivers of "walking out of their jobs". Earlier this week Tesco made an approach to drivers at Eddie Stobbart offering them bonuses that would have brought the Stobbart drivers pay to £2,000 for 3x12 hour shifts during the strike and offered accomodation at a top Lothians hotel, all food and drink paid for by Tesco. In a magnificent show of solidarity with their colleagues, as soon as the Eddie Stobbard drivers knew they were to be used to try and break the strike, they told the Tesco stooges where to stick their generous offer!

Tesco used the cover of a move to a new plant in Livingstone to try and introduce new contracts. At the beginning of negotiations to resolve the dispute, Tesco bosses refused to recognise the T&G trade union after initial discussions with union officials. The entire episode has been a complete humilation for the Tesco boss' bullying management at the plant. Now the stinking underbelly of Tesco is on show for all to see. They treat their employees in a shocking way, show an apparent disregard for the law and instead of sitting down with the drivers representatives in the union, they scurry around trying to abuse Eddie Stobbart drivers and hoodwink them into > breaking a lawful strike.

Management seem so incompetent that it is truly astounding.

The T&G Unite section spokesman said the strike would go ahead. Jim Devine Labour MP for the area called for a public boycott of Tesco stores across the country on Friday, May 25th. Devine said, "This from a company that made £2.6 billion profit last year. Tesco's behaviour and tactics have been outrageous".

This is the latest glaring example of how the trade union law as it stands is insufficient to protect trade unionists who have to jump through hoops and wade through red tape to bring industrial action only to be treated in this disgusting way by a shabby employer like Tesco. But more than that; this is an attack on all trade unionists everywhere and the trade union movement. This website carries a number of reports about the behaviour of this gigantic global enterprise and the reports do not make for pleasant reading. The T&G have already threatened to escalate the action to other areas of the country should Tesco continue to carry on in this vindictive way. Socialist Appeal supports the call for a boycott of Tesco but this should be co-ordinated and publicised throughout the movement. Jim Devine's support for the workers is welcome, he must now make sure that if Tesco have flouted the law that the strongest message is sent to all bad employers. As an immediate priority, Devine must demand the reinstatement of the 65 sacked workers.

There are some good videos that expose Tesco on Youtube that are worth watching.