Latest news with #livingwage
The Sun
a day ago
- Business
- The Sun
Aldi set to be first UK supermarket to pay assistants at least £13 an hour
ALDI will be the first UK supermarket to pay assistants at least £13 an hour. That will be the chain's basic pay rate from September 1. And staff within the M25 will earn at least £14.33, far exceeding the Real Living Wage of £12.60 and National Living Wage of £12.21. Long-serving staff will see their pay rise to £13.93 nationally and £14.64 in London. Already the UK's highest-paying supermarket Aldi, which uses the slogan 'Better Everyday', last increased its minimum hourly pay to £12.75 nationally and £14.05 in London earlier this year. Aldi also remains the only supermarket offering paid breaks, worth an extra £1,385 per year for the average employee. Boss Giles Hurley said: 'Our people are the driving force behind our success. "This latest investment in pay is a reflection of their hard work and the incredible contribution they make. 'We're proud to remain the UK's highest-paying supermarket and will continue to support our colleagues.' The chain is investing £650million to expand from 1,050 to 1,500 stores nationwide. It is opening ten new outlets this summer including in Caterham, Sheffield, and Fulham Broadway, and employs 45,000 staff. Rival Lidl hiked hourly pay for 28,000 workers on April 1. All upcoming 'Aldi Finds' in the middle aisle next week – including portable chargers, power toothbrushes & dryer balls Entry level wages rose to £12.75 an hour nationally, with London rates increasing to £14 an hour, as part of a £15million investment into pay. 4 HEINEKEN REFRESHES LESS 4 HEINEKEN has faced a tough start to 2025, selling less beer amid fraught pricing talks with European retailers. Its beer volumes fell 1.2 per cent globally in the first half, with European sales dropping 4.7 per cent as retailers in France, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain pulled the brand over price hikes. US sales also slumped due to weak consumer sentiment, while proposed tariffs threaten profits. Despite this, the brewer saw modest UK growth boosted by its Cruzcampo lager and Murphy's stout. MOVIE MAGIC EVERYMAN CINEMAS saw a 21 per cent sales surge in the first half of the year. Admissions climbed by 15 per cent in that time, with blockbusters like Thunderbolts and the new Mission Impossible helping to attract 2.2million visitors. And average ticket prices rose by six per cent, up to £12.46. Everyman has 48 venues in the UK, and plans to open more soon. Its shares rose 6.6 per cent in early trading yesterday. RENT SQUEEZE 4 THE rental market is at record highs, with tenants paying £400 more per month than they did five years ago, Rightmove says. Average asking rents outside London sit at £1,365 per month, while those in the capital have soared to £2,712. The news comes despite rent growth slowing, with demand down 10 per cent and supply up 15 per cent. But tenants still spend 37 per cent of their income on housing.
RNZ News
21-07-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Pay rise for Kmart workers
File photo. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly Kmart workers say a new union agreement is a "huge win" for them. Kmart and Workers First Union have signed a two-year pay deal that will mean staff who have been employed for six months will be entitled to the new living wage of $28.95 from September 2025, increasing to the new living wage the following year. Union members will also get bonuses, of $500 for full-time workers, $350 for part-time workers and $200 for casual workers. The company will provide an improved pathway from casual to permanent employment, and an increase to safety and medical footwear reimbursements. Rudd Hughes, deputy secretary for retail at Workers First, said he believed the new agreement put Kmart workers among the highest-paid retail chain workers in the country. "We're extremely proud of our Kmart bargaining team and hopeful that this new agreement sets a standard in the retail industry that other big brands are paying attention to. "We started negotiations with the company talking about the CPI and 'clawbacks' of previous entitlements, but due to the efforts of our dedicated group of Kmart workers on the bargaining team, we've ended with an industry-leading agreement that includes a progressive living wage for two years and a generous union-only bonus." Tarsh Sullivan, a union coordinator from Kmart Te Rapa said it was a huge win for staff. "I'm happy that we're making progress and moving forward with this deal - we know it's not the same for all retail workers at the moment." Hughes said the Kmart deal sent a clear message to other big-box retailers. "Many of the other big retailers still don't believe their staff are worth a living wage," he said. "But Kmart has been thriving as a business because their staff are fairly paid and feel more motivated and valued by their employer." Kmart has been approached for comment. Careers NZ said retail sales staff generally earn about $48,000 a year and start on minimum wage. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
BBC News
20-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Cost of living: Council pauses bid for living wage recognition
An Oxfordshire council has "paused" its bid to be accredited as an employer that pays the real living councillors on Vale of White Horse District Council pushed for the move back in 2023, after it was revealed some council contractors were paying the lower minimum the Lib Dem-controlled authority said it had undertaken a "consideration of workload" following the government's announcement that local government would be said that it would be "for the new council to set its own direction on HR matters such as pay". The Living Wage Foundation puts the real living wage at £12.60 per hour outside London - above the National Minimum Wage of £ says that more than 16,000 employers have been given an accreditation for paying the higher Vale of White Horse District Council said getting that accreditation involved contacting all the authority's third-party suppliers and contractors to seek their commitment to pay the living said that was a "time-consuming and resource intensive process".Green councillor Katherine Foxhall said the decision to pause work towards accreditation was said: "We still really think that it's vital that as major employers within the county, that councils really lead by example."Particularly in the context of local government reform, what we're trying to get our leaders to do is to set the tone and the priorities of whichever authority that follows."It's really vital that we say these are the things that are important to us, these are our priorities."Paying people fairly is a crucial aspect of council services."Under plans for local government reorganisation, district councils in Oxfordshire will cease to exist in 2028, and the county's two tier system will be replaced with unitary authorities. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
BBC News
17-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Tynwald backs new way of calculating Isle of Man's minimum wage
Manx politicians have approved a proposal to base the Isle of Man's minimum wage off a percentage of median earnings instead of aligning it with the living debated a recently published review into the methodology of how the rate is set and approved that the figure would be based on 66% of median earnings. It means that a previous resolution to align the minimum wage with the living wage would be change would see the current hourly minimum wage rate of £12.25 increased to £13.46 in April, a slightly lower rate than the living wage which stands at £13.74. The minimum wage in the UK is currently £12.21 an put forward by SHK Juan Watterson to instead calculate the rate based on minimum income standards were rate had previously been set out in regulations made by the Department for Enterprise and Treasury after consulting with the Minimum Wage Committee. 'Strike a balance' Considerations that had been part of the rate-setting had included the effect on employment, inflation, competitiveness of businesses and the costs of concerns were raised that the new methodology would not link the rate with the cost of living for workers, and that earnings were more Joney Faragher argued the new method "risks leaving some people behind". "It is about real people and whether someone can afford to live independently," she Minister Alex Allinson said the new methodology would provide a "sense of certainty" for the minimum wage year-on-year for argued that a greater proportion of high earners on the island could skew the minimum wage if it was based on a percentage of median wages, but Enterprise Minister Tim Johnston said it would reflect higher living said the approach would remove ongoing subjectivity while maintaining competitiveness for the island's workers and economic impact of previous plans to assimilate the minimum wage with the living wage "could not be ignored", he said, and the change "strikes a balance" offering a wage aligned to the broader working population while giving businesses backed that a review into the policy would be conducted by the end of December. Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
Entrepreneur
16-07-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Here's the Average Disposable Income in Every State: Report
Where you live can make or break the bank when it comes to monthly spending money. One-third of Americans (33%) say they couldn't cover bills for even one month if they lost their income, and 47% cite the cost of living as their biggest obstacle to saving, according to a recent survey from Yahoo Finance and Marist Poll. Every state's living wage is at least $82,000 a year, and in 26 states, a family of four must earn at least $100,000 annually to be considered "financially secure" — or $150,000 if they're in Hawaii, Massachusetts, California and New York, per GOBankingRates data. Related: People Under 25 Have the Best Chance at Building Wealth in This U.S. State — and the Worst in These 2 Others Naturally, many people feel they don't have much money left over once they contribute to essential costs and savings accounts. A new study from online lender CashNetUSA explores exactly how much disposable income Americans have in every state annually — and comes with a calculator for you to determine your own and see how it compares. Related: Young People Earning More Than $200,000 a Year Are Fleeing 1 U.S. State — and Flocking to 2 Others Use the 50/30/20 budget calculator here to figure out how much monthly after-tax income you can spend on "wants" versus "needs" and "savings":
