Tesco, the world’s third largest grocer, has listed “maintaining union-free status” and “union avoidance activities” among the responsibilities of senior managers of its planned new network of stores on the US west coast.

Language in two job descriptions indicates that Tesco – which has a close partnership with its UK union – is set to follow the non-union example of Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and others in the US, adding to the pressure on the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) in southern California.