Asda have implemented a crippling de facto wage cut for their 123,000 retail staff, a 3.25 percent raise from April 2022, up to 9.55 an hour; part of a 7.35 percent raise over two years, to 10.06 from April 2023.

This leaves workers in appalling conditions of low pay, reliant on overtime and struggling to get by. A recent GMB union survey of 800 ASDA staff found that half were borrowing money from friends and family, and 7 percent had been forced to use food banks. An USDAW union survey of 6,500 retail workers found that 77 percent feel they are less well off than last year, 75 percent have struggled to pay gas and electricity bills, two-thirds are relying on borrowing to pay everyday bills and half are struggling with repayments.

USDAW General Secretary Paddy Lillis (salary and benefits in 2020, 166,000) commented, “Too many low-paid key workers, who kept the country going during the pandemic, are coming out of the crisis feeling much worse off. The government’s promise to ‘build back better’ rings hollow now, with prices increasing and wages not keeping pace with inflation”.

What staggering hypocrisy! The Daily Mirror and the Grocer report that the ASDA pay deal was agreed with USDAW. The union did so without even a consultative ballot, or an announcement to workers as to what was taking place behind their backs.

USDAW accepted the pay offer knowing the impact the current cost-of-living crisis is having on workers, with inflation in the UK at its highest for thirty...

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