ShareAction, which won support from investment houses including Legal & General Investment Management, HSBC, Fidelity International and Coutts, Queen’s bank, for the resolution, said it was pleased with the outcome despite falling well short of the 75% support needed to pass the resolution at Sainsbury’s annual meeting on Thursday. The campaign group said it was considering targeting similar proposals at other businesses in the future and would continue to lobby shareholder groups. The living wage – currently set at £11.05 in London and £9.90 outside the capital – is calculated each year and overseen by a commission drawn from sectors including business, academia and the public sector. Sainsbury’s pays the living wage to its 171,000 direct employees in more than 1,400 UK stores. However, it is not fully accredited to the Living Wage Foundation scheme as this would require the policy to be extended to contract workers such as cleaners and security guards employed by other companies such as Mitie. Rachel Hargreaves, campaign manager at ShareAction, said: “Today’s vote sent a strong message from shareholders that Sainsbury’s should commit to the pay of all its workers. Investors have shown they can and do support wage increases for low-wage workers. “We are also disappointed that a large percentage of shareholders have chosen to prioritize short-term returns over the real long-term issue: increasing inequality in our society. As we deal with the ongoing impact of the cost of living crisis, the low pay debate is not going to stop and both employers and investors need to step up.” Martin Buttle at ShareAction said the intention of the decision was “to try to move a whole sector, not just one retailer”. He said Sainsbury’s was targeted as it was seen as more likely to move than other supermarkets because it had already “taken a leadership role in other aspects of responsible business and payment”. Just under 17% of shareholders supported Sainsbury’s resolution. The vast majority followed the advice of shareholder advisory groups Glass Lewis and ISS, as well as Sainsbury’s board, to vote against. Martin Scicluna, the chairman of Sainsbury’s, thanked investors for their “overwhelming vote of support and confidence”. He defended the retailer’s record at the meeting, saying it was a “supermarket world leader in paying the living wage” and was among the first to increase pay for store staff this year as skyrocketing inflation sparked a cost-of-living crisis. He said Sainsbury’s was committed to paying at least the Real Living Wage to employees but did not want to fully certify the national scheme, which would link it to decisions made by another organisation. This year, for example, the Living Wage Foundation is expected to bring forward its last increase by a month, to October, due to pressure on household finances. “To effectively balance the needs of customers, colleagues, suppliers and shareholders we must maintain the right to make independent business decisions that are not determined by a separate body,” said Scicluna. Subscribe to the Business Today daily email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter @BusinessDesk ShareAction’s call for change was supported at the meeting by Labor MP Siobhain McDonagh and the Equality Trust. McDonagh said: “The cost of living crisis is hitting those on the lowest wages hardest, including shop cleaners and security guards. support [the living wage resolution]. As an organization that has made an impressive £721m in profits in recent months, what possible reason is there to disagree?’ A shareholder at the meeting said Sainsbury’s decision to exclude contractors from its guarantee of at least the independently verified living wage meant their pay was “subsidised by the taxpayer with universal credit” and suggested the business should cut pay. the retailer’s chief executive, Simon Roberts, who received £3.8m last year, a deal that “far exceeded the wages of the workforce”.
