Retailers including JD Sports, Sainsbury’s, and M&S are facing shareholder backlash for not committing to pay all their employees and third-party contractors a real living wage.
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Today (2 July), Shareaction will ask M&S at its AGM why it hasn’t committed to paying third-party staff, like cleaners and security guards, a real living wage despite earning over £700m in profit last year.
The group will urge the business, which raised its CEOs pay by 75% this year, to pay all its staff the real living wage on an ongoing basis.
Later this week the group will also call for both JD Sports and Sainsbury’s at their respective AGMs to ensure their staff and all third-party contractors are being paid the real living wage.
Shareaction head of good work Dan Howard said: “Inadequate pay is a widespread issue in the retail sector, leaving many workers struggling to make ends meet, and with all sorts of negative knock on effects on businesses from high turnover rates to low productivity.
“It’s in these businesses’ interests to pay their staff a real Living Wage, which allows workers to afford the basic goods and services they need, from housing to food to bills.
“Crucially, we need to see companies accrediting as Living Wage Employers, which means they commit to paying all their staff a real Living Wage, including third-party contractors, now and into the future.”
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