22
April
2013
A living-wage campaign at Next group is being stepped up after multimillionaire bosses were found to be part-timing staff at just below the wage rates that would require national insurance contributions, GMB said today.
Research by the union found that the vast majority of jobs on offer at Next are for 12 hours a week or less and a whopping 94 per cent of company vacancies pay less than £144 a week - the threshold at which employers begin to pay towards national insurance.
GMB Trade Union activists are calling for the living wage to be introduced - £8.55 an hour in London, or £7.45 outside the capital.
TheTrade Uunion also wants sufficient hours of work to be available for workers to earn enough to live on.
GMB Trade Union southern regional secretary Paul Maloney said: "PR gestures from Tory peer Lord Wolfson sharing £2.4 million of his already sky-high pay with some 35 per cent of Next employees is no substitute for paying a living wage to all 55,000 staff.
"Over 30,000 mainly young Next staff with less than three years' service will get nothing. This is hardly fair. The other directors should make a similar gesture from their £4.6m bonus pot to help them."
National officer for retail staff Mick Rix said: "Next staff do not need charity handouts from Lord Wolfson or his board.
"Next makes huge profits from clothing made in the Third World. It should employ workers in the UK on proper working hours and pay a living wage. Next should stop behaving like a 'breadline Britain' company."
"The majority of the jobs offer pay between £5.08 and £6.21 per hour. Fifty-five of the jobs are for apprentices with no pay rates identified above the national minimum wage of £2.65 per hour."
TheTtrade Union has staged four demonstrations at Next in its living wage campaign.
Next recently reported annual profits of £1.12 billion.
Average wages for staff are under £9,571 a year. Last year Lord Wolfson was paid £1.49m - £697,000 salary, £753,000 performance-related bonus and £36,000 in benefits.
