{"id":12324,"date":"2017-05-10T15:48:47","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T14:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=12324"},"modified":"2017-05-10T16:26:56","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T15:26:56","slug":"top-store-pay-shock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=12324","title":{"rendered":"Top store in under pay shock"},"content":{"rendered":"
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John Lewis has long been lauded for its staff-centred approach \u00e2\u20ac\u201c their employee ownership model means workers share in the profits and so have a direct connection to the value they create.<\/p>\n

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But the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ethics were belied when it came to light yesterday (May 9) that its profits were dented to the tune of \u00c2\u014136m because they had paid all their hourly staff below the minimum wage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c for six years.<\/p>\n

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John Lewis blamed a payroll error which it says arose because of the way the company pays its hourly workers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it averages pay each month instead of calculating pay by precise hours worked. This system failed to take into account the months that staff worked longer than average.<\/p>\n

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The hugely popular firm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s motto is that they \u00e2\u20ac\u0098are never knowingly undersold.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 And although it might well be the case that staff \u00e2\u20ac\u0098are never knowingly underpaid\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00c2\u00a0 underpaid they most certainly have been.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis arrangement was implemented to support [staff] with a steady and reliable monthly income, but we now believe this arrangement may not meet the strict timing requirements for calculating compliance with the national minimum wage regulations,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 John Lewis explained.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

John Lewis was forced to revise down its pre-tax profits from \u00c2\u0141577m to \u00c2\u0141541m because it breached the law. The \u00c2\u014136m total loss includes back pay as well as other associated costs such as employer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s national insurance and pension contributions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The latest scandal comes only three years after John Lewis found itself in a similar situation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it miscalculated holiday pay for its staff for seven years, and was forced to pay back workers \u00c2\u014140m in total.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While illegally paying workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 below the minimum wage is typically associated with small businesses such as beauty salons and cafes, more and more big name, high street retail giants are coming under fire for the practice.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most notably, Sports Direct was slapped with a \u00c2\u01411m back pay bill after Unite helped uncover that it was paying its workers less than the legal minimum for the time it took to do security searches on staff. Sainsburys likewise underpaid Argos staff by about \u00c2\u01412.4m in total for the same reason. And a breach in Tesco\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new payroll system was blamed by the company for its own \u00c2\u014110m minimum wage underpayment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Unacceptable\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Unite national officer Rhys McCarthy hit back at John Lewis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 excuses, calling their actions \u00e2\u20ac\u015bunacceptable\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese sorts of so-called \u00e2\u20ac\u0098mistakes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 never happen to senior managers,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt happens when companies such as John Lewis operate a broken business model in which the vast majority of their workforce is paid just above the minimum wage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it leaves an extremely small margin of error.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat makes this news even more galling is the ethical posturing John Lewis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 adopts with its employee-ownership model. While of course such an arrangement can be positive, it becomes meaningless when the company refuses to engage with trade unions which give their staff a strong, collective and independent voice at work.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The news that John Lewis has illegally underpaid its workers comes after it slashed workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 annual bonuses in March from 9 per cent to 6 per cent, taking the pay out to the lowest level since the 1950s. This bonus cut came even as profits skyrocketed by 21 per cent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The company has also warned that it plans to cut nearly 400 jobs in its cafes, restaurants and curtain fitting services in response to changing consumer behaviours.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No unions <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Such decisions, coupled with a strong resistance to trade unions, are common in low-pay industries with little or no worker representation, McCarthy explained.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe see the same problems across low-pay sectors, such as in retail and hospitality, where employers take an aggressive anti-trade union stance,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs employers deny us access to the workplace, we at Unite are forced to meet workers out on the streets. This creates a culture of fear and isolation, one which makes it extraordinarily difficult for us to engage with workers collectively and help them transform their workplaces for the better.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

McCarthy said that it was trade union laws which were to blame.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDespite all workers having the right to join a trade union and statutory access on an individual basis for disciplines and grievances, there is currently no legal right to wider workplace access to speak to workers collectively,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explained.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe internationally recognised human right to freedom of association covers the right to not only join but form trade unions. In practice the right to form a trade union means access, which is currently denied.\u00c2\u00a0 Unite is calling for wholesale changes to trade union legislation to grant unions greater access to the workplace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re calling for collective access in workplaces so we can meet with both members and their colleagues and engage with employers constructively.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis measure alone will go a long way in tackling low pay and its attendant culture, one dominated by fear and insecurity, and one that leaves vulnerable workers open to human rights abuses.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government and UK plc have become far too reliant on low-pay business models. Low-paid, insecure workforces may prop up businesses\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 profit margins but in the end this only creates an unproductive, stagnant economy that harms us all \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s simply not sustainable.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Lewis has long been lauded for its staff-centred approach \u00e2\u20ac\u201c their employee ownership model means workers share in the profits and so have a direct connection to the value they create.   But the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ethics were belied when it came to light yesterday (May 9) that its profits were dented to the tune […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6784,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[215,506,540],"wps_subtitle":"John Lewis in staff short-changed pay scandal","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12324"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12325,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12324\/revisions\/12325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}