Sainsbury’s has raised the pay rate for its retail staff to £9.20 per hour, making them the highest-paid shopworkers employed by any of the Big Four supermarkets and the first to receive over £9 per hour.
The rate is £1.70 more than the Government’s National Living Wage of £7.50 per hour and 45p in excess of the Living Wage Foundation’s £8.75 per hour Real Living Wage.
Shopworkers union Usdaw, which members of the Co-op’s union NACO recently voted to transfer into, gave the news a guarded welcome.
Joanne McGuinness, Usdaw National Officer, said: “We will be looking closely at the whole deal, as we understand the company are proposing some contractual changes. Consolidating pay can benefit staff, but we want to check the effects on all individual workers.”
Usdaw will now enter talks with Sainsbury’s.
