Legal & General joins rebel Sainsbury’s shareholders in calling for higher wages
Legal & General has joined a group of rebel Sainsbury’s shareholders calling for higher wages for staff and are pressuring the supermarket giant into a proposal.
The group, which included International and the National Employment Savings Trust, has pushed past the threshold which should see Sainsbury’s put a proposal to shareholders on the issue, The Times first reported.
Britain’s oldest insurer and largest institutional investor Legal & General, which has a 1.92 per cent stake in Sainsbury’s, said: “The cost-of-living crisis does not discriminate between those living in inner or outer London.”
As Brits grapple with the soaring costs of living, shareholders have urged the supermarket chain to pay real living wage to all staff and third-party contractors, such as cleaners and security guards.
While workers in London already receive real living wage levels, staff in London’s suburbs are falling behind.
Between April 2021 and March 2022, the UK’s minimum wage was set at £8.91 per hour, compared with the voluntarily paid living wage which was £9.9 and £11.05 for people working in London.
Share Action, the campaign group which coordinated the pressure, said that it hopes the move to “catalyse long overdue change”.
“Low-paid workers in the supermarket sector are being hit incredibly hard by rising living costs, yet we all owe them so much following the pandemic,” the group added.
“The directors of all supermarkets that aren’t accredited as living-wage employers should be asking themselves why not and taking steps to put things right by their workforce before their investors force the issue.”
Sainsbury’s, which said that it was “acutely conscious” of the cost-of-living crisis, added: “It is vital that we not only pay our colleagues fairly but that we are able to invest significantly to offer customers great value.”