Sainsbury's workers face ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ pay offer
08 March 2018
Unite is representing more than 12,000 employees from Sainsbury and is recommending that a pay offer of £9.20 an hour be rejected as employees will have to make a number of `sacrifices` to secure this rate of pay; including the removal of paid breaks and Sunday premium pay, as well as a number of changes to the attendance policy.
Unite the Union is calling Sainsbury’s proposals ‘a robbing Peter to pay Paul’ pay offer. They said that the firm’s proposal to increase pay to £9.20 an hour for workers at Sainsbury’s 1,400 stores from September would be eroded by such ‘strings’ as removing premium pay for Sunday working. The normal current rate is £8.00 an hour.
Unite will be holding a consultative ballot of members across the UK from the end of March, with a recommendation to reject as they believe the conditions will offset any rise in basic pay.
Unite is to decide on the next steps after members have expressed their views on the ballot, which should be known by the end of April.