However, while I completely support the campaign to ensure Tesco’s cleaners are paid a living wage, as everyone in this country should be, it does somewhat bother me that it is Tesco again that finds itself at the heart of these protest.
Tesco is regarded by many in the industry as one of the better supermarket employers. As the article on Left Foot Forward highlighted, Tesco recently agreed to raise staff pay by 2.7 per cent and ensure that all staff are paid at least £7 per hour. Compare this to the Co-op, whom many on the centre-left consider to be the bastion of ethical consumerism, whose basic pay rate is just £6.09 per hour, which is lower than Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons.
Another darling of many on the centre-left is the mutual John Lewis Partnership. Now while Tesco has an extremely good relationship with the trade union Usdaw, indeed Usdaw staff reps sit on Tesco’s national forum which agrees the annual pay settlement, the John Lewis Partnership does not recognise trade unions and therefore they do not sit on any staff-employer forums.
The point is that as we look to achieve a fairer society we should not cherrypick targets based on prejudices. If companies such as the Co-op Group and the John Lewis Partnership want to actively promote the image that they are ethical employers we should hold them to that high standard. There are 28 Labour and Cooperative MPs. Perhaps they would be the right people to start this campaign by calling on the Co-op Group to pay all its staff the living wage.
Sadly there seems to be something about Tesco that makes the headlines that Sainsbury’s, Waitrose or Morrisons cannot.
The thing about Tesco’s is it’s the UK’s largest supermarket so persuading them to support a living wage for their cleans helps the largest number of people.
@David Floyd – I totally agree with you on the point about Tesco’s cleaners. They should 100% pay them a Living Wage. My point is that activists seem to always target Tesco’s rather than call-out companies which trade off their reputations as ethical companies when in fact they are just as bad, if not worse, than competitors.
The Co-operative is member owned and at the last AGM a motion was passed encouraging the Group to pay a living wage. John Lewis is interesting because in a worker co-op it is the workforce who own the business and the means of production. In such a set-up what is the role of the Union?
Also important to remember that Tesco subcontracts its cleaning and so does not directly employ its cleaners.
There are 29 Labour and Cooperative MPs.
let’s face it the only reason they are nearly 30 “co-op” MP’s is because they give a nice fat bung to the CLP’s of MP’s who they sponser them. Take this away lets see how many “Labour Co-op Mp’s” there are then
Jack – I sit on the Living Wage Campaign Steering Group as a member of Citizens UK so can maybe fill you in a little on the rationale behind the Tesco action. Notwithstanding the point that they are the largest supermarket and so a win for its cleaners would be massive as David Floyd has said, Tesco invited itself to become a target of action because for a long time it failed to recognise us, meet with us, or even answer our letters. Now they have agreed to meet with us and we feel it hardly co-incidental that the 2.7% pay rise for directly employed staff comes after concerted efforts on our part to raise the issue of poverty pay with them. Convenient that the announcement comes just weeks before the company’s AGM. Re. John Lewis, I totally agree with you. It sticks in my craw that they trade on this ethical employer reputation whilst availing themselves of cleaners paid poverty wages. But we are already in regular negotiations with them and have been over the last year or so. It’s about dialogue and mutual recognition. That’s not to say John Lewis might not become the target of Citizens UK action in future mind…
Just to say that john Lewis is NOT a workers cooperative but a partnership. Employees get a share of the profits and last tiem I looked senior managers are required to respond to representations from employees. There is a rather arcane structure of councils etc. The Co-operative Group is a RETAIL Cooperative owned by its members also with a rather arcane structure for MEMBER participation. It employs staff and recognises USDAW for collective bargaining. Employees may be MEMBERS of course.