Morrisons cut staff benefits ‘to fund minimum wage’

MPs have accused Morrisons of axing staff benefits to fund the £40million cost of preparing for the new minimum wage. The supermarket has watered down longstanding pay arrangements, abolishing paid breaks and the Sunday rate.

The 15-minute breaks earned staff £1.73 a time, while they used to be paid time-and-a-half for working on Sundays, according to evidence presented to Parliament.

The cases were branded ‘disgraceful’ by James Berry, Conservative MP for Kingston and Surbiton.

Morrisons announced a year ago it would raise basic pay from £6.93 to £8.20 an hour in March this year. The firm pointed out this was well above the statutory rate of £7.20, introduced in April, which is set to rise to £9 an hour in April 2020.

The rise brought wages in line with those of German discount rival Lidl, which was the first supermar- ket to raise pay last year. But in one case a Morrisons worker complained to his MP, Helen Goodman, that after his benefits were scrapped his pay rose by just £1.64 a week.

The supermarket, which employs 125,000 staff, is the latest to be drawn into a growing row over cuts to benefits as firms seek ways to fund the cost of the pay rise.

Firms already embroiled in the wages spat with MPs include Marks & Spencer, B&Q, supermarket supply giant 2 Sisters and Ginsters pasty maker Samworth Brothers.

Morrisons said the Usdaw union backed the plan and added: ‘Our staff told us they wanted their pay to be more competitive and simpler. Our hourly rate is now among the best in the sector and more than 90,000 colleagues have benefited. We ensured that nobody is worse off this year as a result of the changes.’

But Goodman, Labour MP for Bishop Auckland, said she had been told of the ‘heartache’ of a family expecting a substantial rise in line with the announcement of the National Living Wage in 2015 by then Chancellor George Osborne, but which received very little.

She said the changes would not be fair on staff who regularly worked weekends, adding: ‘It sets workers against each other. One person’s pay rise is at the expense of another.’

Berry said: ‘We as customers can also take direct action by not shopping at Marks & Spencer this Christmas.’ He said it was important to ‘call out those who breach the spirit of the rules’ but without wrapping them up in further regulation.

Marks & Spencer said last night ‘no one is going to be worse off’ as a result of the changes to pay.