Petition supporting dispute of supermarket workers reaches 124,000 signatures

Following a dispute between UK supermarket Sainsbury’s and their workers, nearly 124,000 people have signed a petition in support of the shop floor workers. The group were led by MP Siobhain McDonagh, and have accused the company of giving staff an ultimatum as they’ve been told to sign the new pay deal of resign.

Sainsbury’s staff argue that, as a result of the contract changes made by their employer, they will soon see their wages “plummet”. The changes were introduced earlier in the year. They mean that staff will no longer be paid for breaks, premium rates for night shift workers will be restricted and the company’s bonus scheme will be scrapped for anyone on an hourly rate.

Ms McDonagh is an MP who has been campaigning on the workers behalf since the announcement of the new contracts. She’s written a letter which has been signed by 100 other MP’s and has recently been sent to the prime minister.

In a statement, Ms McDonagh said: “Mike Coupe may be ‘in the money’, but 9,000 of his most loyal staff certainly aren’t singing with a pay cut of up to £3,000 per year. Against all their brand values, this utter disloyalty from Sainsbury’s will force their most dedicated staff to work well, for less.”

“It’s high time Sainsbury’s showed some loyalty to their most longstanding staff. Whilst CEO Mike Coupe takes home a bonus of £427,000, he scraps the entire bonus scheme of his shop floor staff. How is that right, just or fair?”

In response to the petition, a Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “We’re investing over £110m and introducing one fair and consistent contract for all Sainsbury’s store colleagues. At present we have colleagues working side by side in stores every day, carrying out the same role but being paid different amounts and that’s not fair.”

“Our plans will see over 120,000 colleagues receive a significant pay rise making Sainsbury’s the highest paying major retailer in the country. We appreciate that a small minority of colleagues will not benefit from these changes and that’s why we have protections in place to ensure that no-one will earn less than they do today.”