CHESHUNT, England — Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama has reportedly written a letter on behalf of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union to Sir Terry Leahy, chairman of Tesco here, urging the company to talk with the U.S.-based union. As quoted in the London Guardian, the letter says, “It is in your interest to ensure that the concerns of the communities where you do business and of the leaders of the workers in the industry are heard and respected.” The newspaper also said Obama points out in the letter that Tesco recognizes unions at its stores in the United Kingdom, “[and] I would hope that you would bring those values to your work in America.” It was Obama’s second letter to a Tesco executive. In separate letters in November, he and Hillary Rodham Clinton wrote to Tim Mason, chief executive officer of Tesco’s Fresh & Easy operations in the U.S., urging company executives to meet with the union. “Eight months after my first letter,” Obama reportedly wrote this week, “Fresh & Easy has still not engaged positively with its stakeolders and refuses to meet the UFCW to discuss the principles of partnership. I strongly request you re-visit that decision.” In response, Tesco issued a statement yesterday that said, “We strongly believe union membership is a matter of individual choice, and if our people want to join a union, then they can and will. All the signs so far are that there is little interest in doing so.”
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