Major retailer Marks & Spencer face some difficult questions and the accompanying “tough decisions” over the coming months, chief executive Steve Rowe announced at the company’s annual general meeting yesterday.
After posting an 8.9% drop in clothing sales in the company’s first quarter, the retailer is – according to City A.M – considering significant cuts to its generous benefits package.
Among the proposed cuts are the removal of their premium Sunday working pay, the lowering of their pension contributions to staff, as well as cuts to bank holiday and anti-social working hours pay-packets; potentially affecting up to 11,000 staff. However, the retailer are exploring the option to increase basic pay by 15% from next April, a move which could see 62,000 shop-floor employees benefit from a higher hourly rate.
CEO Steve Rowe attempted to placate concerned union members – as well as other staff – by reassuring them that the proposed pay increase would deliver some of the highest wages in retail, with the pension scheme remaining “generous”. However, questions still loom over the threat of Autumn store closures, noted national officer of shopworker’s union Usdaw, David Gill.
