Newtown Tesco jobs advertised in Slovakia

Jobs at a Mid Wales supermarket are being advertised in Slovakia.

Tesco in Newtown is believed to be advertising in the eastern European country for workers at its store in Pool Road. The revelation has angered some Newtown residents who claimed any job vacancies at the store should be filled by people living in the area, and has been branded a disgrace.

But the supermarket giant, which has opened stores in Newtown, Llandrindod Wells and Welshpool in the last 18 months, claimed it was advertising vacancies abroad because of a lack of interest locally.

The company said the measure was a last resort when positions could not be filled within the community.

Councillor Joy Jones, Mayor of Newtown, today described the news as shocking.

"If this is true then I'm absolutely disgusted. The store should be advertising jobs locally because there are very few about at the moment and a lot of people are struggling to find work and live," she said.

"I intend to find out what is happening and if it is that the store is advertising in Slovakia then I won't be happy."

Dan Jones, a resident from Newtown, said it was a huge blow to hundreds of unemployed people in the town.

He said: "I have been told that Newtown's Tesco is advertising in Slovakia for workers.

"I don't mind people coming to work or live in this country one bit, but when you have hundreds of people in the town without jobs, it is a disgrace. These jobs should be offered to people in Newtown first."

And Councillor Sue Lawson added: "There is already too many people in Newtown out of work and actively looking so if this is the case for the town's store I think its disgusting. I think it will put a lot of people off shopping there if it is true."

A Tesco spokeswoman said: "At Tesco we always try to recruit staff from local communities.

"In spite of intensive local recruitment drives and advertising, we can't always fill vacancies so we have to widen our search.

"It is much more expensive for us to recruit UK staff from elsewhere in Europe, and that's another reason why we only do this as a last resort."

By Andrew Morris