John Lewis under pressure to pay cleaners living wage

A petition calling on the board at John Lewis to pay cleaners the living wage has attracted over 120,000 signatures. The petition says John Lewis enjoyed the highest...

A petition calling on the board at John Lewis to pay cleaners the living wage has attracted over 120,000 signatures. The petition says John Lewis enjoyed the highest market share in the retail sector last Christmas and new year, after which its staff received 14% bonus payments.

“John Lewis brands itself as a company that is committed to treating its suppliers, customers and partners with fairness, but it has contracted out its cleaning services,” the petition says. “Its cleaners receive less than the living wage and are not entitled to the bonus payments paid to directly employed staff.

“Given John Lewis’s impressive profit levels, it is very troubling that it refuses to show moral leadership and pay its cleaners the living wage.”

Neil Spring, group senior external communications manager at John Lewis Partnership, said: “Fair pay is one of the core principles of the John Lewis Partnership and we share the living wage campaign’s objectives to pay employees fairly. We achieve that, however, through different means. Our policy is to pay the market rate for a job and as much above that as can be justified by performance.

“In relation to cleaning, with a few historical exceptions, the majority of cleaners who work in our branches are, as with almost every organisation, contractors. Most work for more than one employer, often on the same day. Like all retailers, we work with many different contractors of various kinds throughout our supply chain. We could not operate effectively if all our contractors were partners.

“We take our responsibilities to all our suppliers and contractors very seriously. We expect them to uphold good employment standards. However, we don’t believe it’s right for us to insist our suppliers or managing agents adopt pay policies that are different to our own by setting base pay levels well above the market rate.”

The Living Wage is an hourly rate calculated according to the basic cost of living in the UK. It stands at £7.65 in the UK and £8.80 in London. The minimum wage is £6.31. The London Living Wage Foundation has commitments from 650 companies including KPMG, Nationwide, the Royal Opera House and Tate & Lyle.

• To view the petition, visit: www.change.org/p/john-lewis-jlcustserv-pay-cleaners-the-living-wage

 

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