Asda under pressure after pay rise lags behind Tesco and Sainsbury’s

theguardian.com:

Asda is under pressure to raise pay for its shop floor workers after wage increases at Tesco and Sainsbury’s this week left the Leeds-based chain as the UK’s lowest paying supermarket.

The UK’s third largest supermarket chain pays workers a minimum of £9.66 an hour, or £10.83 in London, making it the only big chain to pay less than the independently verified living wage of £11.05 in the capital and £9.90 elsewhere.

More than half Asda’s shop floor workers have had to borrow cash from friends and relatives in the past year; 8% have used a food bank and more than one in 10 (12%) have used a payday lender, according to a survey of 2,000 of the supermarket’s workers by the GMB union.

Nadine Houghton, the union’s national officer, said: “Asda needs to get a grip. It is now the lowest paying of the big four supermarkets and one of the lowest paying supermarkets overall. There is a cost-of-living crisis and for many Asda workers, covering basic bills is a struggle.”

Asda said it had increased its pay to £9.66 an hour this month, just above the new £9.50 legal minimum for those aged 23 and over, and was one of only two supermarkets that continued to pay store staff a bonus, which was an average £413, in effect lifting hourly pay to £9.88. Workers are also in line for a pay rise in year to an hourly rate of £10.06.

A spokesperson said: “We pay our store colleagues a competitive hourly rate benchmarked against the retail sector and our pay rate will increase by 7.35% over the next two years. Unlike most competitors, we also pay all store colleagues a bonus.”

Asda has been left behind as retailers have been forced to push through significant pay increases to counter high inflation and competition for suitable staff.

Industry insiders said