Campaigners calling for Britain’s biggest employers to pay their workers the real wage say they have sent a strong message after almost a sixth of Sainsbury’s shareholders voted in favor of a resolution that would have introduced the policy at the country’s second-largest supermarket group. the country.
ShareAction, which received backing from investment houses including Legal & General Investment Management, HSBC, Fidelity International and Coutts, the Queen’s bank, for the decision, said it was pleased with the outcome, although it fell short of the 75% support needed to pass resolution at Sainsbury’s annual meeting on Thursday.
The campaign group said it was considering targeting other businesses in the future and would continue to lobby shareholder groups.
The living wage – currently set at £11.05 in London and £9.90 outside the capital – is calculated each year and overseen by a commission made up of sectors including business, academia and the public sector.
Sainsbury’s pays the living wage to its 171,000 direct employees in more than 1,400 UK stores. However, it is not fully accredited to the Living Wage Foundation scheme, as this would require the policy to be extended to contract workers such as cleaners and security guards employed by other companies such as outsourcing specialist Mitie.
Rachael Hargreaves, campaign manager at ShareAction, said: “Today’s vote sent a powerful message from shareholders that Sainsbury’s must make a commitment to living standards for all its workers. Investors have shown that they can and do support raising wages for the low paid.
“We are also disappointed that a large number of shareholders have chosen to prioritize short-term returns over the real long-term problem: the growing inequality in our society.” As we deal with the ongoing effects of the cost of living crisis, the conversation around low pay will not go away and both employers and investors need to step up.”
ShareAction’s Martin Buttle said the intention of the resolution was “to try to move a whole sector, not just one retailer”. He said Sainsbury’s was targeted because it was thought to be more likely to move than other supermarkets because it had already “taken a leadership role in other aspects of responsible business and pay”.
Just under 17% of shareholders supported Sainsbury’s decision. The majority followed the advice of shareholder advisory groups Glass Lewis and ISS, as well as Sainsbury’s board, to vote against.
Martin Scicluna, chairman of Sainsbury’s, thanked investors for their “overwhelming votes of support and confidence”. He defended the retailer’s record at the meeting, saying it was “the supermarket world leader in paying the living wage” and was among the first to increase pay for store staff this year as rising inflation sparked a spending crunch for life.
He said Sainsbury’s was committed to paying at least the Real Living Wage to staff but did not want to be fully accredited to the national scheme, which would have tied it to decisions made by another organisation.
This year, for example, the Living Wage Foundation is expected to push back its last increase by a month, to October, due to pressure on household finances. “To effectively balance the needs of customers, colleagues, suppliers and shareholders, we must preserve our right to make independent business decisions that are not determined by a single body,” Skicluna said.
Sign up for the Business Today daily email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk
ShareAction’s call for change was backed at the meeting by Labor MP Siobhain McDonagh and the Equality Trust.
McDonough said: “The cost of living crisis is hitting the lowest paid hardest, including shop cleaners and security guards. I support [the living wage resolution]. As an organization that has reported an impressive £721m profit in recent months, what possible reason could I disagree?’
One shareholder at the meeting said Sainsbury’s decision to exclude contractors from its guarantee of paying at least the independently verified wage meant their pay was effectively “subsidised by the taxpayer with Universal Credit” and they suggested the business should cut pay, going to the main chief executive of the retailer Simon Roberts, who received £3.8m last year, a deal that “far exceeded the pay of the workforce”.
Add Comment