Why Sainsbury's

By every measure Sainsbury’s has been a hugely successful business over the past 7 years.

The executives and shareholders have reaped the benefits, but workers have not.

The workers have been demanding a living wage for over a year now, they’ve earned it!

Sainsbury’s can afford it.

So we say, Pay Up!

What do the workers say?

Parents forced to take out pay day loans.

Single parents forced to rely on tax credits.

Top 11 reasons

Collectively, supermarkets are the largest private sector employers, and have tens of thousands of low paid workers fuelling their large profits.
Sainsbury’s have seen year on year profit rises from £238m in 2004/05, to £712m in 2011/12. That is a rise of 299%.
Justin King, the CEO, earned £1.13m in 2004. By 2010, that had risen by 295% to £3.34m.
The company has seen year on year record sales and increasing market share.
The pay for the 14 members who sit on the Board of Directors, has risen by 246%.
Dividend payouts have risen from £132.6m to £280m in 7 years.
Workers on the lowest Band 2 rate have seen a nominal wage rise of £1.36 from 2004 to 2012.
Yet, when you match this against inflation, on four out of eight occasions workers recieved a real terms pay cut. Their wages today are worth 2.5% less than they did in 2004.
Other perks, such as Christmas bonuses and share schemes have all been whittled away
Sainsbury’s is the largest Fairtrade retailer in the world, so why not be the largest Fair Pay retailer?
Sainsbury’s are sponsoring what are supposed to be an ‘ethical olympic games’

Below the market rates

Sainsbury’s is one of the worst of the big four supermarkets for low pay, paying far below Tesco.

In London:

	Basic rate	Established rate	London Living Wage
Sainsbury’s	£6.72	£6.88	£8.30
Tesco	£7.48	£7.82	£8.30

Outside London:

	Basic rate	Established rate	UK Living Wage
Sainsbury’s	£6.21	£6.37	£7.20
Tesco	£6.50	£6.84	£7.20

Data: Fair Pair Network (2012) Facing the Difference: Low pay in Supermarkets.

We're asking Sainsbury's to pay a living wage

But what does that mean?

We're not taking no for an answer

Join us in asking Sainsbury's to Pay Up a living wage!

A fair days pay for a fair days work

You support fairtrade why not fairpay

A story of inequality

Download Sainsbury's pay and profit trends in detail

Paul Mason: Poverty Pay in Supermarkets

Low Pay in Supermarkets

Despite intimidation from the big four supermarkets, in January 2012, the Fair Pay Network released a report on the state of low pay in the UK’s big four supermarkets: Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons.

Collectively, an estimated 893,126 people are employed across 7,293 stores. The big four supermarkets are the largest private sector employer in the country. Despite, their expansion and huge profits, not one of them pays a living wage.

Report Author Mark Donne speaks about the report

Key findings:

56% said they do not earn enough to live on.
54% reported a slight pay increase in the past 12 months. 46% did not.
21% of employees stated that their “rate of pay is lower than I would like and causes me problems like doing without certain food/clothes/leisure activities/activities for my children.”
22% stated that their “rate of pay is so low it means I do without a lot of things and I struggle to make ends meet”.
8.5% of employees stated that their “rate of pay is so low it means I am getting into debt, having to work more and seeing less of my family and friends.”

Download the full report

www.fairpaynetwork.org