Marks & Spencer has come under fire from workers‘ union Usdaw as top bosses are poised to take home millions in share rewards.
Steve Rowe, the retailer‘s chief executive, is expected to take home over 500,000 shares worth £3.28 each adding £1.8 million on top of his usual salary if certain conditions are met.
If the department store performs to a certain standard the chief finance minister Helen Weir and director of customer and marketing Partick Bousquet-Chavanne could also stand to make over £1 million on their salaries.
This comes just months after the controversial announcement that M&S will be shutting stores and making adjustments to workers‘ wages.
Usdaw’s deputy general secretary Paddy Lillis said: “Our members in M&S find it difficult to understand how the company can justify such huge rewards for senior management when the staff are facing enforced pay cuts and store closures.”
READ MORE: M&S pay battle reignites following leaked document
The pay cuts saw MPs and union members submit a 90,000 signature petition to the retailer in a bid to change the new pay rules. According to Lillis some staff are: “still challenging the changes, despite the company’s threat of dismissal next year, because they simply cannot see how they will make ends meet with a much lower income.”
In response to the fresh controversies an M&S spokesperson stated: “The changes to pay and premiums, which come into effect from April, will reward our people in a fair and consistent way, simplify and modernise our business and make our colleagues amongst the highest paid in UK retail.
“Nobody need be worse off and the vast majority will receive higher total pay.”
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