Having won plaudits from staff for introducing a 8.5% pay increase for team members and team leaders earlier this year, The Co-operative Group has upset some store managers by offering an increase of just 1.5%.
The award was announced to store managers and team managers this week. One store manager described the increase as “meagre”.
“So, all in all, fair reward for hourly employees, not so fair for full-time salaried management, with the company clearly not planning to address this for another year,” he said.
A Co-op Group spokesman said: “We regularly review our pay rates and our focus has been on ensuring our colleagues are paid fairly. We announced last year that customer team members and team leaders would receive an 8.5% pay award this October in order to bring them in line with pay rates offered by competitors.
“Pay proposals for store managers and team managers were part of a separate discussion with Usdaw, the outcome of which is a proposal to offer a 1.5% rise from October 2015. As part of the recommendation, we have also agreed to raise the minimum salary rate for team managers.”
The store manager suggested that under the new terms it could be possible for a team leader to earn more than the salaried team managers by racking up overtime and unsocial hours payments. However, the spokesman said this was unlikely as most team leaders were part-time.
When it announced the 8.5% increase in March, staff welcomed the move. “Fantastic news for the people who matter most in a business - customer-facing colleagues,” said one Co-op worker.
Another said: “I would like to thank The Co-op for our fantastic increase. This year alone the 8% will make a substantial increase to my monthly wage.”
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