Take pay cut ...or get boot

Threat hanging over thousands of store staff

UP to 10,000 Sainsbury’s workers will have to sign a new contract that could leave them worse off – or face the axe.

The supermarket giant last week announced a £100million investment in the store’s 130,000 staff – with an hourly pay rate rise from £8 to £9.20, or £9.80 in central London . But it’s a double-edged sword. Because the store is also doing away with paid breaks and cutting premium pay for working Sundays, long night shifts and bank holidays.

Hardest hit will be night shift staff, who will get a higher rate but for far fewer hours.

One night worker who contacted the Mirror said they would be £900 a year worse off. Sainsbury’s has said it will soften the blow by making up the difference for the first 18 months. But affected staff fear their take-home pay will fall sharply after that.

Sainsbury’s insists most of its store workers would be better off – but it has acknowledged just under 10,000 won’t be.

A group consultation starts next week, with individual meetings beginning in June, and the new contract taking effect in September. Those who don’t sign it will have to leave.

The better-off are bound to sign up, but night staff face a dilemma. A night worker told the Mirror: “A lot of my colleagues are middle-aged and with families who rely on the extra money you get from working nights.”

Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh, who met Sainsbury’s retail and operations director Simon Roberts yesterday, said: “We’re delighted for day staff who will be taking home more, but there are others for whom this could have a devastating impact.”

Sainsbury’s said: “We have thought very carefully about how we support colleagues adversely impacted by the proposals.”