USDAW Tesco workers give us their views at Focus Group in Alfreton

A focus group of female USDAW members and 2 USDAW FTOs took place on 16^th May at the Alfreton Tesco in Amber Valley. In the space of an hour the group covered a number of subjects from Pensions to Education.

The focus group confirmed many of the findings of the community surveys previously undertaken in the area, and highlighted financial worries, fairness, concerns for the ‘next generation’ and worries about benefit abuse very prominent.

The focus group enabled ‘deeper’ discussion of issues than was possible through the door to door surveys. Discussion was lively and could easily have run on longer than just the hour. Next time we are planning to have another session with the members to discuss ‘ok so what are we going to do about it?’.

There were four areas that the focus group thought most important:

Pensions: Working longer for not enough money to have a good standard of living

Job Security: Temporary contracts increasing

Health Care: Prescription charges cost a lot, worried about cuts and waiting times for appointments are too long

Education: “Everybody needs it. It’s the way forward” 

Thanks to Tesco for agreeing to allow the staff time off to participate in the Focus Group.