The deal will affect 230,000 of the supermarket group’s 320,000 UK employees. The move comes before April’s introduction of the government’s national living wage, which will lift minimum hourly pay to £7.20 for over-25s, from its present level of £6.50, and to at least £9 an hour by 2020.
Tesco said that the increase, which comes into effect on July 3, would apply to all workers regardless of age who had worked at the business for more than nine months. It has agreed the pay deal with Usdaw, the shopworkers’ union. Tesco said that its shop staff would benefit from one of the highest pay and benefits packages in retail, which includes staff discounts, a pension and a 5 per cent turnaround bonus as the business strives to restore its fortunes.
The Times reports that as part of the package, all staff will move to time-and-a-half payments for Sunday and bank holiday shifts from July. A small number had received double-time for these shifts, but 85 per cent of staff affected will be better off. Any workers made worse-off will receive a lump sum transition payment worth 18 months of the difference in pay, Tesco said.
Pauline Foulkes, a national officer at Usdaw, said: “We believe that the deal is the best that could be achieved in the circumstances and represents a significant investment in pay and benefits.”
