The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 24th February 2023
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 24th February 2023
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Shop workers’ union USDAW have recently claimed credit for securing substantial pay rises for workers at two major supermarket chains. On Monday they announced that at Tesco pay was rising by seven per cent, bringing the basic rate up by 72 pence to £11.02 per hour. £11.02! Rejoice, Rejoice!
Some 220,000 workers will benefit from 2 April. USDAW say this comes on top of increases made since July 2022 and that in all the basic rate has increased by nearly 15.5 per cent.
USDAW thinks it is a great triumph that the rates apply to staff of all ages and exceeds the Government’s compulsory National Living Wage (NLW), presently at £9.50 per hour until April when it will increase to £10.42 per hour for those over 23, and boasts that it is above the voluntary Living Wage Foundation hourly rate beyond London of £10.90 and ensures all staff in stores in London boroughs are on their rate of £11.95 per hour.
Tesco can easily afford to do that – and indeed to pay staff much more from its predicted £2.5 billion profits.
The small print is that Shift Leaders get an extra 40p per hour, taking their skill payment to £2.26 and their hourly rate to £13.28. There are now two new London Allowance areas, with staff in London boroughs getting an extra 93p per hour to take their basic pay plus location pay to £11.95. In outer London (within the M25, excluding London boroughs) staff will now be paid an extra 73p per hour to take basic pay plus location pay to £11.75.
The 1,800 “Shift Leaders” are a new grade created to replace 1,750 “Team Manager” posts in hundreds of its larger stores and get rid of other roles in smaller stores. They are at a lower rate of pay, obviously.
Less positively, Sabbath premiums will fall from 25 to 17 per cent, but apparently this will maintain the existing monetary amount.
USDAW National Officer Daniel Adams claimed: “This deal, which follows earlier agreements with USDAW on additional investment outside of the normal annual negotiations and bringing the 2023 pay negotiations forward, represents a significant step forward for pay within Tesco retail. It represents a third increase in pay in 10 months and ensures that the business continues to respond positively to the significant pressures our members face. Furthermore, it demonstrates the value of employers engaging constructively with trade unions at this incredibly difficult time.”
The union had no qualms about quoting the Tesco CEO, Jason Tarry, who said: “We are absolutely committed to supporting them with competitive base pay and exclusive colleague benefits. This agreement recognises the incredible work and dedication our teams show every day in serving our customers.”
Making a difference
Doing slightly better are workers in Asda stores in Northern Ireland who are to get a 10 per cent increase basic pay to a majestic £11.11 per hour, which applies to all staff regardless of age. The increase starts in July.
The deal was accepted by 88 per cent of the members in a ballot with a 78 per cent turnout.
Raymond Neal, the Area Organiser, was also deferential towards management, saying: “In the course of our ongoing negotiations with Asda, we raised the significant pressures our members face because of the cost-of-living crisis. So we are pleased to have secured a significant increase that will make Asda the top-paying supermarket from July and takes staff beyond the real living wage.”
To put the £11.11 into perspective, Asda had a third-quarter revenue of £5.2 billion last year.
Back in southern England, however, early last month Unite secured a 12.2 per cent rise for about 100 tanker drivers employed by Fuel Transport Logistics (FTL) on the Asda South contract. In addition, they have also secured a four-on four-off shift system, meaning that drivers will work 26 fewer shifts per year with no loss of pay, which by some calculations means a 25.7 per cent rise.
Perhaps USDAW members might agree with Unite national officer Tony Devlin, who claimed that: “It is a further reminder that those wanting better wages and working conditions should join Unite and get their colleagues to join as well.”
Monday also saw the {Retail Gazette} issue a useful comparative survey of the state of pay in major British supermarket and other chains. Below are the basic rates for food retailers.
John Lewis and Waitrose do not have anything so common as workers but have partners who have a minimum of £9.90 per hour and those inside the M25 receive at least £11.05. Most are paid above this, however, and non-management pay is on average around £10.75 per hour.
At Sainsbury’s £10.50 per hour is the minimum, this was obtained in the second rise in six months last month. They boast that all staff get at least the RLW. Since May, pay in outer London has risen from £10.50 per hour to £11.05 per hour – the RLW level for London.
Workers at Aldi will soon get £10.90 per hour beyond London and £11.95 within the M25, surprisingly it has the highest starting pay of any supermarket chains in the UK. Pay for warehouse staff has just increased by 20 per cent to a minimum of £13.18 per hour.
Workers at Lidl are paid a minimum of £10.10 per hour outside London whilst those in the capital will get £11.30.
As mentioned above, the hourly minimum is £11.02 at Tesco and £11.11 at Asda. Morrisons offer £10.00 for new starters. At Marks and Spencer hourly pay is a minimum of £10.20.
Iceland claims that all its jobs pay above the minimum, with workers in London getting £9.90 to start.
The caring sharing Co-op coughs up a minimum of £9.90 per hour and £11.25 in London, but it has good holiday and pension benefits.
The retail sector is not well organised. Marks and Spencer is very hostile to unions but gives workers free food on night shifts to ‘compensate’. At Waitrose bosses like to say the workers are the owners so they don’t need a union. USDAW does not seem very active in recruiting in the downmarket chains. It produced a leaflet entitled :The Union for Lidl Workers} in 2018 but there is little evidence of later activity.
Warehouse workers tend to be better organised than store workers.
These rates are minimums and many workers are paid above that, but recently the fresh food counters have vanished from Tesco and Sainsbury’s meaning some higher-paid jobs have gone, along with the bakeries which used to be a feature of Asda stores.
The downgrading of managerial jobs by Tesco is paralleled in other chains.
Further down the jobs food-chain automation is taking its toll on the number of jobs. It is increasing common to see a single assistant supervising a row of self-service machines.
When what was then the National Minimum Wage was first introduced in the early days of the first Blair Government the NCP was derided for claiming that the “minimum wage” would soon become the standard wage. Unfortunately, we have been proven more or less correct.