Church in the World

Tesco under fire over feast-day opening

Poland

Britain's Tesco supermarket giant has faced fresh criticism in Poland after ignoring a new ban on trading during Catholic festivals.

"When will the exploitation of employees end?" a Solidarity trade union official, Alfred Bujara, told Poland's Dziennik daily. "None of these insatiable giants, headquartered abroad, would dare open their shops on a festival at home. Here in Poland, though, it's the order of the day."

The unionist was speaking after Tesco insisted on staying open on 15 August, the Feast of the Assumption, which is a public holiday in Poland, despite new legislation barring supermarket trading. A Polish spokesman for the firm said the law would not take effect officially until September, adding that closing or shortening store hours would have "caused disruptions".

However, other shopping centre companies, including the US-owned Cefic, said they had observed the ban out of respect for Poland's Catholic traditions. "We support the ban on feast-day trading," explained Karolina Teszczyk, a Cefic spokeswoman. "So we resolved to give our employees a day off."

Under the law, passed overwhelmingly in July, trading is to be banned on 12 days annually, including Easter, Pentecost and All Saints Day, and Poland's national Constitution and Independence Days. The move follows complaints about low pay and excessive hours among Tesco's 25,000 Polish employees, many of whom have also objected to being denied Sundays off and the chance to observe Catholic traditions. 

A Tesco-Poland statement said the firm had "a strong track record of bringing benefits locally", and its Polish stores, which last year claimed six million customers and record profits of 6.5 billion zloties (£1.22 billion), were all managed by Polish nationals and brought "opportunities to thousands of staff" through investment in training and development.