Shopworkers’ union Usdaw has accused Morrisons of making its staff “minimum wage workers”.
Usdaw claimed workers had been left “angry, disappointed and frustrated”.
Staff received a pay increase in April, but the union claimed it had been forced on them by the government’s increase to the national living wage.
Morrisons is lagging behind its competitors on pay, offering the minimum wage (£12.21/hour) outside London with an 85p/hour supplement inside the M25. It claimed to have spent more than £100m on pay increases in the past year despite strong economic headwinds.
However, Usdaw said staff working at Morrisons on the basic rate were now minimum wage workers.
The union submitted its original pay claim in November 2024, but claimed the company repeatedly delayed the start and continuation of negotiations and to date had not made a pay offer.
“Throughout this process, Usdaw has very strongly and robustly made representations regarding the company’s position on making no offer, but the company has continued to reiterate its position that it is not able to make an offer,” said Darren Matthews, Usdaw national officer. “We have expressed to the company the anger, disappointment and frustration of our membership as a whole at the position they have taken.
“As the company has advised us of their position, which is unlikely to change in the next few months, a further date to meet has not been agreed as it is the union’s view that negotiations have now been concluded. Usdaw will now register a failure to agree with Morrisons and request that we quickly move to the next stage, which is to meet with Acas. This is for conciliation only, in an effort to secure an offer through the use of a mediator, and not binding arbitration.
“We continue to call on Morrisons to reverse its position and make a pay offer that recognises the huge efforts staff are making to help the company in the difficult circumstances and recognise the cost of living pressures our members face.”
One Morrisons staff member told The Grocer: “Morrisons pay rise is zero this year. We are going to work for minimum wage until April when the minimum wage will go up.
“Normally we get a pay rise in October and that is only to the minimum wage in April, apparently it’s because they spent £100m on our last pay negotiations, they are saying because of National Insurance and tax increases from the last budget.”
A Morrisons spokesman said: “We continue to operate in a very challenging and competitive retail environment.
“At the same time, we’re continuing to manage the impact of considerable unbudgeted headwinds, such as the significant increase in National Insurance contributions and the plastic packaging tax.
“Over the last 12 months, we have invested over £100m in raising colleague pay, so we have to balance any further pay increases with our overall performance and affordability.
“We look forward to continuing our discussions with Usdaw at Acas.”
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