B&Q campaigner vows to continue to fight on living wage terms

Earlier this month, B&Q vowed to compensate staff who would have lost out as a result of changes to Sunday pay and seasonal bonuses for two years instead of one.

But an anonymous store manager, who started an online petition against the changes to pay that received more than 140,000 signatures, told Retail Week he believed the improved terms are “not good enough” and vowed to continue his fight. 

The Kingfisher-owned retailer moved to amend its Sunday pay and seasonal bonus structure after unveiling plans to increase its minimum basic pay to £7.66 an hour, more than Chancellor George Osborne’s national living wage of £7.20 per hour.

It is among a number of retailers, including Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose, that have come under fire for changing their pay structures in light of the living wage. 

The B&Q staff member behind the campaign, who Retail Week is not naming, said: “The extended compensation will help people for another year, but it’s not good enough.

“What happens after that to the people who have worked for the business for 15 or 20 years?” 

The store manager vowed to continue fighting until the retailer once again re-evaluates the changes it has made to pay.

However, a B&Q spokesman said: “Over the past 10 years, inconsistencies and complexities have arisen in our pay structures, which have meant that colleagues doing the same job in the same store were being paid different amounts.

“For our business to be successful, it is very important to us that our colleagues are paid well, consistently and in a way which rewards performance, and this is reflected in the new pay and reward structure that came into effect on 1 April, 2016.

”Many colleagues will be better off or unaffected by these changes, and we have decided to extend the compensation so that no one will lose out for the next two years.

”This decision has the support of our elected staff representatives.”

The store manager spoke out as the GMB union also demanded that B&Q reinstated bonuses and allowances for working Sundays and bank holidays.

MPs spoke out against retailers during a parliamentary debate on the living wage earlier this week.