Tesco Plc plans to raise store employees’ base pay by 7% as workers across the UK struggle to keep up with the rising cost of living.
(Bloomberg) — Tesco Plc plans to raise store employees’ base pay by 7% as workers across the UK struggle to keep up with the rising cost of living.
Store employees will get £11.02 an hour from early April, the retailer said Monday, hailing the agreement with the USDAW union as the third pay increase in 10 months. Workers in London will get a base pay of £11.95 an hour, Tesco said.
UK supermarket retailers are facing inflation both in wages and in the cost of groceries. Asda last week unveiled plans to give its store employees two wage increases this year, while J Sainsbury Plc raised salaries last month in its biggest-ever investment in pay.
The higher wages agreed over the past year will increase Tesco’s costs by a record £450 million.
The Tesco agreement matches the wages Asda’s workers will get in April, although the Asda employees will receive another planned pay increase in July that will take them further, reaching £11.11 overall and £12.28 in the greater London area.
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