Paltry wage rise means that I can’t even afford to shop in Asda. And I work there
Store chiefs blasted by union after survey reveals workers in poverty
Staff at supermarket giant Asda claim they can no longer afford to shop there because of rising prices and a below inflation wage rise.
Workers at the store have told how they are turning to food banks to feed themselves.
Asda, the UK’s third-biggest retailer, was bought from US firm Walmart in 2020 by billionaire brothers Zuber and Moshin Issa, from Blackburn, for £ 6.8billion.
The supermarket’s profits in 2020 were £368million, according to its latest accounts.
However, a cost- of- l iving survey of 800 Asda staff by the GMB union found many complaining of their stretched income.
More than half said they were borrowing money from friends and family to get by.
And 500 said the steep rise in prices was affecting their mental health. About five per cent admitted to taking time off because they couldn’t afford to travel to work and another seven per cent said they had used food banks.
Almost al l (760) said they d id n’ t fe e l valued as a key worker by the f irm. Among t ho s e who completed the su r ve y wa s Bishopbriggs Asda worker Diane Brownlee, 41. The mum of one, who has worked for the supermarket near Glasgow for 11 years, said: “Asda have made record- breaking profits since the beginning of lockdown, with directors paying themselves eye-watering bonuses.
“Workers have been putting their lives on the line by going into work throughout the pandemic. But our hard work hasn’t been recognised. We kept people fed during the pandemic.
“With the pay increase, I can no longer afford to work in Asda. And I certainly can’t afford to shop there without my staff discount. Asda bosses told us we are frontline staff. But many of us feel like we are on the breadline.”
Asda’s 123,000 staff were told earlier this month wages would go up to £9.66 an hour from April. But that is much lower than most other supermarkets.
Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s all pay their staff over £10 an hour.
Onl y Tesco pay less – £9.55 an hou r – although this yea r ’ s pay increase is yet to be announced.
Another A sda worker in
Blant y re, who wished to remain anonymous, said she had been stunned by price increases.
The gran, who is in her 60s, said: “I have colleagues in their late 60s and even 70. They are working because they can’t afford to stop. The pay increase is insulting to the work they do. We get a 10 per cent discount to buy Asda goods but, even with that, it’s a struggle.
“I have had colleagues who have been unable to get to work because of the cost of travel. It’s very sad.”
GMB has criticised Asda’s below- inf lation increase of 3.25 per cent. The consumer price index ( CPI) – the Government’s preferred choice of measuring the cost of living – is forecast to hit eight per cent by April.
Scotland organiser Robert Deavy said: “Asda bosses should be shamefaced at the prospect of staff being unable to afford the food they stock on the shelves and any politician worth their salt should be stunned – there is no ‘ levelling up’ or ‘ fair work’ in Asda.
“For the last two years staff have been told they are key workers, they’ve helped keep
the country fed and watered throughout the grip of Covid-19, yet after everything they’ve done for all of us, their ‘thank you’ will be a wage of just £9.66 an hour whi le inf lation soars to a 30-year high.
“Without intervention, these daily struggles are only going to get worse and for tens of thousands of key workers in Asda it is a real possibility they’ll go from the frontline to below the breadline in 2022.”
The CPI and cost of food in supermarkets has been brought into sharp focus by food campaigner Jack Monroe over the last month. She forced Asda to roll out its value range to more stores after she showed how prices were rocketing.
In a viral thread on Twitter, the mum said a bag of the cheapest pasta had gone up from 29p to 70p over a year, with canned spaghetti going up from 13p to 35p over the same time.
Monroe started a campaign for statistics to better represent the
rising cost of food for the poorest. She has set up her own index tracking the price of the basic ranges at supermarkets with the help of her Twitter followers.
Last month it was announced the Office for National Statistics planned to use supermarket
scanner data to give a more detailed picture of price changes.
A spokesman for Asda said the pay deal, done with union Usdaw, would result in wages in excess of £10 an hour within two years. He also said Asda was the only supermarket to give staff a bonus. He aadded: “This pay offer was negotiated negotia with Usdaw and will see se colleague hourly pay increase in by 7.35 per cent over ov the next two years, with rates rat rising to £9.66 in April and an to £10.06 next year. We are the only supermarket to pay store colleagues a bonus, worth wor an average of £ 413 this year for full-time colleagues, as ppart of a comprehensive benefits bene package, which also includes inclu 10 per cent discount in stostore and online.”