Millions Stolen from Leicester: Bringing Tax Justice to Boots

Over £6 million has been stolen from the people of Leicester by Boots the chemist since 2007. This shocking sum was calculated based on national figures that estimated that Boots failed to pay some £1.2 billion in tax in the past seven years. Seeking to redress this injustice, local campaigners working with the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) organized a protest earlier this afternoon on Gallowtree Gate outside of Boots’ main store in town.

Councillor Wayne Naylor, a member of TUSC affiliate Leicester Independent Councillors Against Cuts (LICAC) said:

“Tax justice is a critical issue for the people of Leicester. The same laws should apply to everyone, be they rich or poor. In this day and age there is no reason why the super-rich should refuse to pay their tax. As Boots gets more than 40% of its UK revenue from the taxpayer, through NHS prescription dispensing and wholesale services, it is particularly troubling that the government continues to tell us there is no money left to fund the NHS.”

One recent study demonstrated that some £120 billion a year in tax is evaded nationally by the super-rich. So it is clear that Boots is just one of many corporate offenders whose greed needs to be challenged by politicians; which is why Leicester’s TUSC Councillors recently demanded that the city’s Labour Council sign-up to a national campaign called Towns Against Tax Dodging. As the Council voted to support the rebel Councillors’ who proposed this important motion, the TUSC Councillors felt it was appropriate to take the fight directly to the city’s most prolific tax dodgers, which is why they chose to target Boots this week.

Yet alongside their pledge to rid our city of corporate thieves, local TUSC activists made clear their support for the Boots staff, most of whom struggle to make ends meet working long shifts for little pay. Both TUSC Councillors affirmed their belief in the need to raise the minimum wage to a living wage of £10 an hour, to be implemented immediately, not at some distant point in the future. Moreover the Councillors also sent a message of solidarity to the thousands of Boots employees who have spent the last six years fighting to have their own independent union (the Pharmacists’ Defence Association, PDA) recognized by their bullying management.

As the PDA union has explained:

“Boots is relying upon an outdated piece of employment law to block pharmacists being able to collectively bargain over their pay, hours and holidays. A High Court Judge and the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC — an independent government adjudicator) both agreed that this outdated legislation is in breach of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The legal battle continues and it is likely that Parliament will be required to change the law to stop Boots from violating the rights of pharmacists to collectively bargain.”

Mark Pitt the Assistant General Secretary of the PDA Union, commented earlier in the week:

“We are still in the legal process for union recognition with Boots and have a further hearing in the autumn at the Court of Appeal. Unfortunately Boots tactics are to tie us up in costly legal battles to drain our resources.”

Such behaviour on the part of Boots is disgusting! Speakers at today’s protest thus spoke in defence of the PDA Union’s efforts to gain collective bargaining rights in the workplace, while demanding that their bosses also pay their taxes. TUSC is the only political party taking such concerns seriously, and will soon be announcing the names of the electoral candidates across Leicester.