Sainsbury’s is going to boost the wages of 137,000 of its employees, the supermarket chain announced.
The increase will be of four per cent, a big rise, reportedly the highest increase for the store employees for more than a decade.
Across the country, the wage of people manning Sainsburys outlets will go from £7.08 per hour to £7.36.
This rise will also apply to people under the age of 25, an age group that can find it hard to get wage increases.
Mike Coupe, the chief executive of the company, said that the business could now afford the extra wages, and that it is one of the biggest tax payers in the UK, and it recently achieved second place in terms of sales.
He told BBC Breakfast “We think we contribute a lot to the exchequer and I think we can more than pay our way.”
During the price wars between the supermarkets, it seemed that only the customers were benefitting, as stores lost market share (except for Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose), but made offers that helped customers get the best deals.
Suppliers have suffered as a result of falling prices, and people with high management positions in the big superstores have been fired.
Employees of these stores were also at risk, especially as some outlets have shut down across the UK, and planned expansions, which would have generated more jobs, have been halted.
But now, for those working at Sainsburys, there is an award at the end of the trying time. This is just the first step on the way to much higher wages, however, as by 2020, the government want a minimum wage of £9.00.
To compare, according to the BBC Morrisons pays its workers £6.83, Tesco pays £7.39, and Asda will, as of October, pay £7.00, all per hour.
