Morrisons - comment
USDAW is understandably angry that its members working for Morrisons are receiving lower pay rises, but the government's additional £200m in taxes makes this inevitable. USDAW represents 45% of Morrisons’ staff, but absent a significant increase in militancy, a sustained strike is unlikely. However, saving money by reducing store labour hours was a disaster at ASDA, and Morrisons will not want to adopt this approach. Higher pay for lower hours is not a solution.
The national minimum wage will rise at roughly the rate of inflation for 2026 (after an above-inflation rise in 2025), so some flattening of the gap between minimum wage and what supermarkets pay is sadly inevitable. Additionally, this issue is unlikely to disappear; the UK government is committed to ensuring that the National Living Wage remains at least two-thirds of median earnings. Any rise in the living wage creates pressure for the Minimum Wage to rise; the link is not a legal one, but the government will be loath to raise one and not the other. The growing price friction caused by ASDA’s price cuts is exacerbating things in the industry.