Asda is cutting the hourly pay of 1,500 delivery drivers by more than 12% as households continue to battle against rising costs.
The supermarket is ending a temporary £1.50-an-hour premium introduced in the summer across some 35 stores in London and the south coast.
The premium to drivers’ £10.10 an hour rate is being scrapped on October 21. Asda had previously promised to keep the enhanced rate in place until Christmas.
GMB Union national officer, Nadine Houghton said: “Asda’s attempt to address its driver shortage was a sticking plaster that was never going to work.
“Asda needs to address the fundamental issue: driver pay is much lower than other retailers – as is their shop-floor pay.
“A temporary or one-off payment was never going to go far enough and entice drivers at a time when they are in high demand.
“Drivers need to be paid competitive rates for the job or they will continue to find work elsewhere.”
Asda said the enhanced pay package “has not delivered the desired results” and said all affected workers have been contacted.
A spokesperson from Asda told The Mirror: “In July, we began a trial in a small number of stores to pay a discretionary supplement to delivery drivers in order to assess what impact this has on colleague recruitment and retention.
“This trial was scheduled to end in December, but will finish at the end of this month, because it has not delivered the desired results.”
The update from Asda comes after the GMB Union criticised the supermarket for being the “worst paying’ grocer out of the Big Four.
Aldi, Tesco and Sainsbury’s have boosted the basic hourly rate to £10.50, £10.30 and £10.25 respectively.
Supermarkets across the board have been increasing pay this year to help workers with the cost of living crisis.
Asda last increased pay for its workers in April 2022.
According to a GMB survey of 3,200 Asda workers, 90% worry they won’t be able to heat their homes.
Asda said: “We’re listening to our colleagues and taking action to support them wherever we are able.
“This year we have invested in two pay increases for our hourly-paid store colleagues and were able to pay a bonus worth an average of £413 to full-time, hourly paid colleagues.”
