// Sainsbury’s will hold a shareholder vote at its upcoming AGM amid growing support from investors for the grocer to pay the real living wage across the UK
// Many retailers have already adopted the voluntary pay measure, including Ikea and Lush, but no UK supermarket has signed up yet
Major investors have called for Sainsbury’s to help tackle the current cost-of-living crisis by becoming the first supermarket to pay all its workers the real living wage of £9.90 an hour.
Sainsbury’s will hold a shareholder vote at this year’s annual meeting on paying the so called real living wage to all its workers by July 2023.
The group of investors managing £2.2 trillion of assets said on Monday the resolution has been filed calling for Sainsbury’s to accredit as a living wage employer.
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The group said it would be writing to all UK supermarkets urging them to take the same action.
It is the first resolution calling for a listed firm to become a Living Wage accredited employer.
The real living wage is established by the Living Wage Foundation and independently calculated by the Resolution Foundation according to how much workers and their families need to live.
The rates are currently £11.05 per hour in London and £9.90 per hour in the rest of the UK and this is set to rise in November and compares with the statutory minimum wage of £8.91, which rises to £9.50 on 1 April.
Approximately 9,000 plus employers have already adopted the voluntary pay measure, including Ikea and Lush, but no UK supermarket has signed up yet.
In January, Sainsbury’s announced an increase in basic hourly pay for all employees. It raised rates for directly employed staff from £9.50 to £10 an hour outside of the capital, and matched the living wage rate for employees in inner London.
Last month, rival Asda was criticised by the GMB union for imposing a below-inflation pay increase that means its staff will earn £9.66 an hour from April, while Tesco’s current hourly rate lands at £9.55.
Responsible investment group ShareAction said the new Sainsbury’s rate of £10.50 for workers in outer London was “considerably lower” than the £11.05 real living wage for the region.
On top of that, it added that Sainsbury’s did not make any commitment relating to the pay of third-party staff, such as cleaners and security guards.
“Furthermore, Sainsbury’s have made no commitment that pay will continue to increase in line with the cost of living in future years. Accrediting as a Living Wage employer would remove this uncertainty and guarantee all workers a wage that they can live on,” ShareAction said.
A spokesperson said: “We pay more than many of our competitors, and across the board colleague feedback has been positive to our pay review … Our competitive pay rates are in addition to our colleague discount programme, matching pension scheme and recently enhanced family leave policy.
“As we balance the needs of all our stakeholders, particularly in the light of the current cost of living challenges that many people in the UK face, it is vital that we not only pay our colleagues fairly but that we are able to invest significantly to offer customers great value.”
Sainsbury’s annual shareholders meeting will be held on July 7.
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