Environmental activists call on Waitrose to pull out of controversial Shell partnership
At 6:30pm last night, Climate Rush staged a sit-in demonstration at Waitrose, Russell Square, in protest against the supermarket’s new partnership with oil company Shell. Twenty of us spoke to Waitrose shoppers, read out an ‘intervention’ letter to the shop’s manager and linked arms chanting ‘don’t break us up, break up with shell’.
Our peaceful protest amid the extra virgin and the sesame oil was surrounded almost instantly by photographers, security guards, the Metropolitan police and several members of staff, including the store manager. As the crowd stood over us we linked arms and read out our letter of intervention - telling Waitrose their choice to partner with Shell was hurting those who love them most: their loyal customers who see them as the ‘ethical’ option.
The letter read: “Dear Waitrose, You are one of our favourite supermarkets… Before Shell came into your life we could always trust you to do the right thing. All that is good about you is now overshadowed by your relationship to Shell.”
Threatened with arrest, we began to leave the store after speaking at length to the store manager, demanding he took our letter to the Head of Sustainability, Quentin Clark. Disappointingly, he replied that we should be speaking to the Press Department - but we think this issue needs to go beyond branding, and should be considered seriously at the heart of Waitrose management.
On our way out we spoke to customers, explaining why Shell and Waitrose are such a bad match, and got plenty of signatures of support for our petition.
The occupation was part of Climate Rush’s sustained campaign, which calls for an end to the business partnership that has led to two Waitrose stores opening on Shell petrol station forecourts. Shell has been criticised for its human rights abuses in Nigeria by Amnesty International and Platform. It has pulled all investment from renewable energy sources. A statement on the website of parent company The John Lewis Partnership reads “We believe we must act now to combat climate change by reducing our contribution to its causes.”
Our next action will take us to Waitrose Holloway Road, where on Thursday 22nd March at 6.30pm we invite customers to join us in writing letters to Waitrose asking for the partnership to end. In the meantime, please sign the petition, tweet @waitrose with our intervention tweets, and see what else you can do at our Waitrose Dump Shell campaign page.
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