// Asda to slash hourly pay of 1,500 delivery drivers despite cost-of-living crisis
// The grocer is ending a £1.50-an-hour premium which it launched in the summer
Asda will cut the hourly pay of its 1,500 grocery delivery drivers despite concerns surrounding the cost-of-living crisis.
The grocer is ditching a £1.50-an-hour premium which it launched in the summer to find new drivers delivering groceries to homes from some stores.
It hired drivers for stores in London’s Charlton, Wembley and Colindale, as well as outlets in Bristol and the south coast, but said the trial of temporary premiums is “not delivering desired results”.
The premium to drivers’ £10.10 an hour rate had been promised to them until Christmas, but is being scrapped on 21 October.
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Asda said it had introduced the higher rate for drivers in those areas because they were experiencing “higher levels of job market challenge than average”.
GMB union national officer, Nadine Houghton said: “Asda’s attempt to address its driver shortage was a sticking plaster that was never going to work. Asda needs to address the fundamental issue: driver pay is much lower than other retailers – as is their shop-floor pay.
“A temporary or one-off payment was never going to go far enough and entice drivers at a time when they are in high demand. Drivers need to be paid competitive rates for the job or they will continue to find work elsewhere.”
The news comes after Asda had to defend its record on staff pay, when a GMB survey claimed half of its workers are worried about being able to afford a Christmas dinner this year.
GMB called on the supermarket to increase the base rate of shop floor pay to £10.50 per hour with Houghton saying that “without an urgent pay rise, Christmas will be cancelled for thousands of Asda workers.”
Figures released over the weekend by the GMB Union, based on a survey of 3,200 Asda workers, claimed 87% were worried they won’t be able to heat their homes over the winter.
