At Sainsbury's annual general meeting earlier this week, shareholders of the company voted to prevent a special resolution calling for Britain's second-largest supermarket firm to pledge to paying the so-called real Living Wage to all employees by July 2023.
According to the corporation, the special resolution on Living Wage accreditation earned only 16.7 per cent of votes cast and was "overwhelmingly rejected by shareholders."
With a staff of 189,000, Sainsbury's, one of Britain's top private-sector companies, had advised shareholders to vote against the resolution.
"We believe very strongly in paying people well for the excellent job they do for our customers every single day," Martin Scicluna, Chairman of Sainsbury's, said.
"We also believe that we need to make all business investment decisions independently and that these decisions should not be outsourced to a third party."
An investor consortium led by Legal & General and Nest proposed the special resolution. ShareAction, a non-governmental group focusing on responsible investment, coordinated and filed it.
Glass Lewis and ISS had also advised Sainsbury's investors to vote against the resolution, with Glass Lewis stating that acceptance of ShareAction's plan "may verge on micromanagement by shareholders."
The Living Wage Foundation charity devised the genuine Living Wage, which was independently estimated by the Resolution Foundation think tank to determine how much employees and their families need to live.
The real Living Wage is currently computed at 11.05 pounds ($13.56) per hour in London and 9.90 pounds throughout the rest of the United Kingdom. The main government-mandated minimum wage rate in the United Kingdom is 9.50 pounds per hour.
(Source:www.skynews.com)
According to the corporation, the special resolution on Living Wage accreditation earned only 16.7 per cent of votes cast and was "overwhelmingly rejected by shareholders."
With a staff of 189,000, Sainsbury's, one of Britain's top private-sector companies, had advised shareholders to vote against the resolution.
"We believe very strongly in paying people well for the excellent job they do for our customers every single day," Martin Scicluna, Chairman of Sainsbury's, said.
"We also believe that we need to make all business investment decisions independently and that these decisions should not be outsourced to a third party."
An investor consortium led by Legal & General and Nest proposed the special resolution. ShareAction, a non-governmental group focusing on responsible investment, coordinated and filed it.
Glass Lewis and ISS had also advised Sainsbury's investors to vote against the resolution, with Glass Lewis stating that acceptance of ShareAction's plan "may verge on micromanagement by shareholders."
The Living Wage Foundation charity devised the genuine Living Wage, which was independently estimated by the Resolution Foundation think tank to determine how much employees and their families need to live.
The real Living Wage is currently computed at 11.05 pounds ($13.56) per hour in London and 9.90 pounds throughout the rest of the United Kingdom. The main government-mandated minimum wage rate in the United Kingdom is 9.50 pounds per hour.
(Source:www.skynews.com)
Homepage
Send to a friend
Printable version
Share
