Tesco, the UK’s largest employer, is bringing Polish workers over to take on jobs in its stores and drive lorries, because it cannot fill vacancies.
The retailer, which employs around 250,000 people in the UK, confirmed that it had launched a trial at the start of the month with 70 staff brought from its stores in Poland.
“We are not the only business to suffer from skills shortages,” a spokesman told the Observer. “Unemployment is so low now that in some areas we are having difficulty filling vacancies – so we decided to carry out this trial.”
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Regarding union worries about hiring foreign workers, he added: “It is not a huge number when you consider we employ about 250,000 people. We won’t make any decisions until we see how this goes.”
Some Polish workers are driving delivery lorries to Tesco stores across the UK, while others are working at distribution centres, and some are working on the shop floor itself.
