
// Tesco staff are planning to protest against self-service checkouts
// A petition opposing the move has over 240,000 signatures
Tesco staff are to stage a protest against the automation of grocery stores this month, ahead of the grocer’s AGM at its Welwyn Garden City headquarters.
The demonstration will take place in two weeks’ time, on Friday 16 June at 10am, at Welwyn Garden City train station, where shuttle buses are taking shareholders to the grocer’s AGM.
This will give protesters “enough time to lobby shareholders”, according to one organiser.
Last year, Tesco chose to remove a majority of manned checkouts from its bigger stores due to a shift towards self-service checkouts.
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The demonstration will take place after a petition opposing the move to automation was launched last month. It currently has over 240,000 signatures.
Protesters are also planning to hand out leaflets to shareholders and “make their presence known”.
An organiser for the protest told The Welwyn and Hatfield Times: “This new way of shopping is destroying jobs, disenfranchising many and making our shopping trips self-service-card-only. This is not what tens of thousands of you want.”
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