{"id":1914,"date":"2014-10-17T08:00:50","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T07:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=1914"},"modified":"2014-10-17T16:44:29","modified_gmt":"2014-10-17T15:44:29","slug":"couldnt-survive-without-partner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=1914","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t survive without my partner\u00e2\u20ac\u0165"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

In part 5 of our series, Britain Deserves a Pay Rise, UNITElives speaks with a man who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of the many thousands of casualties in the supermarket price wars, in which workers pay the price while big chains rake in the profits.<\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nJohn Harper*, a supervisor at Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, remembers when terms and conditions for its workers were much better. But since large grocery chains have entered into vicious price wars<\/a> to drive down costs, management, he says, has become \u00e2\u20ac\u015bruthless.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWages, of course, have never been good where I work,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Harper\u00c2\u00a0explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut the way they treat us now, they just refuse to work with you.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nHarper\u00c2\u00a0says there are many mothers who work for Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part-time, whose managers used to be sensitive to their schedules so they could work while their children were in school. Now, however, their shifts are changed in the very last minute. In instances where these hard-working parents cannot change their schedule, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re shown the door.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got no compassion,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not only that, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve eroded our pensions over the years, too. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re basically in a situation now where we workers are paying to line the pockets of our bosses.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nSince Harper\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s partner, with whom he lives, has a job that pays a good wage, he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t struggle with living costs the way many of his colleagues do. In this respect, he considers himself lucky, but he explains how it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a double-edged sword.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI work hard but because my wages are so low, I pay a very small portion of the rent and expenses and my partner pays the rest,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very demoralising to feel that you aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pulling your full weight, even though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m working full-time.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For others who work at Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, though, living can be an unbelievable struggle.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs a workplace rep, I hear some really awful stories,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMany people who work here have it so bad that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re embarrassed to talk about it. One worker can only afford to buy the chips from Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s it. Some people walk two hours to work because they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford to take the bus.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nAlthough Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recently reported record profits<\/a>, the chain still chooses to keep its workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 wages low.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTo be honest, it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily make me angry. But it does get you down. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s demeaning,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Harper\u00c2\u00a0says. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bA good wage shows that your employer treats you with respect. And we deserve respect since we work so hard.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe top bosses of these big grocery chains, they use our roads, they use our schools, they benefit from our society,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he adds. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t contribute to this society. I can understand keeping wages down when profits are down, but not when they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re up.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nWhen asked whether he and other workers like him deserve a pay rise, Harper\u00c2\u00a0notes, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a matter of deserving<\/em> a pay rise. We have a right<\/em> to wages that enable us to live good lives. After all, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s us<\/em> workers who create their<\/em> profits.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nJoin Unite and thousands of workers across the country at the TUC rally tomorrow<\/a> (October 18) as we fight together for fair pay.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*Name changed to protect privacy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In part 5 of our series, Britain Deserves a Pay Rise, UNITElives speaks with a man who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of the many thousands of casualties in the supermarket price wars, in which workers pay the price while big chains rake in the profits.   John Harper*, a supervisor at Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, remembers when terms and conditions for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[136,129,65],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1914"}],"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=1914"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1930,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1914\/revisions\/1930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}