{"id":15264,"date":"2018-05-18T15:36:04","date_gmt":"2018-05-18T14:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=15264"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:44","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:44","slug":"sainsburys-asda-merger-cma-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=15264","title":{"rendered":"Listen to workers call"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>Unite warned ministers and competition authorities against overlooking the concerns of workers and food producers when weighing up a proposed merger between the supermarket giants Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Asda.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The warning comes as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today (May 18) confirmed it had started to probe the \u00c2\u014112bn deal with a preliminary invitation to comment before moving to a full-blown investigation. Some experts expect the CMA to order the two companies to dispose of scores of stores as part of its review.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Unite represents thousands of Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s workers in stores and logistics as well as the wider supply chain.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhile the interests of the big supermarkets and shoppers will be at the fore in weighing up the planned merger, there is every danger the voice of workers at Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Asda will be overlooked by the authorities because of UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s takeover laws,&#8221; said\u00c2\u00a0Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite is engaging with Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s to secure job guarantees, but promises on jobs and stores by Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s boss Mike Coupe could end up worthless if the Competition and Markets Authority gives the green light and orders a disposal of stores,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis proposed merger not only poses major questions about competition, but for food security, as well as jobs in stores, logistics and the wider food supply chain across the UK.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bCompetition cannot be the sole determining factor in whether the merger between Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Asda goes ahead,&#8221; Holland noted. &#8220;Government ministers need to ensure that wider considerations are given equal prominence and overhaul the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s takeover rules to strengthen the voice of workers and stop short term speculators.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unite warned ministers and competition authorities against overlooking the concerns of workers and food producers when weighing up a proposed merger between the supermarket giants Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Asda. &nbsp; The warning comes as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today (May 18) confirmed it had started to probe the \u00c2\u014112bn deal with a preliminary invitation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[489,870,505,690],"wps_subtitle":"Competition authority starts Sainsbury's Asda merger probe","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15264"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15264"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26178,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15264\/revisions\/26178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/63"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}