TESCO SLAVERY- EVERY LITTLE HELPS A POEM BY ZITA HOLBOURNE/ Copyright 19 February 2012

      Every little helps Tesco say
      Every little  labour without pay 
      Helps Tesco profits grow
      when the wages are Zero  

      Every little bit of free labour
      Means they can get bigger and BIGGER
      Every little bit means they get richer
      whils't the poorest people just get poorer

      Every little bit helps Tesco grow
      Until they're everywhere you go
      Tesco extra and Tesco metro
      Tesco gaming and Tesco Petrol

      Tesco optician and Tesco phone
      Tesco bank and Tesco at home
      Tesco direct and Tesco online
      Tesco clothing and Tesco wine

      Tesco finance and Tesco optician
      Tesco sports and Tesco television
      Tesco can even create a place for you to defecate in harmony and contemplation 
      If you sign up for Tesco finest Bathroom design consultation

      I step out to the left and every little corner shop's gone  
      And in its place another Tesco Metro Tesco.con   
      I step out to the right and the post office is no longer there
      But Tesco is - offering cheap mobile phones and half price beer

      Tesco value range - value for who
      Certainly not for me or you
      Value for Tesco means engaging in slave labour
      They're snatching your friend and they're snatching your neighbour

      Work for free and they won't promise you a job
      The name of their game is to make a few bob 
      They're open all night
      And they're doing all right

      Making billions of pounds of profit each year
      Thanks to their friends in government and to workfare
      One thousand four hundred people worked without pay
      Whilst only three hundred got to stay

      This is enslavement  of the unemployed
      But they can't understand why we're annoyed
      Every little Teco Work Fare
      Should be replaced with work that's fair

     With a living wage for every employee
     Not a scheme of exploitation and slavery
     Every little help that Tesco helps itself to for free    
     Is a crime against freedom and humanity
    
     Every little Tesco metro
      needs to go
     until people not profit are put first
     As  the Tesco bubble's about to burst

Zita Holbourne is a performance poet, spoken word artist, visual artist
and a Community & Trade Union Activist