Calling on Marks and Spencer for a living wage
We expect leadership on this basic fairness issue.
The Chief Executive of M&S Marc Bolland is being paid £2.1 million this year.
Last year, his company refused to consider paying a Living Wage – £9.15 an hour in London and £7.85 in the rest of the UK – at its Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Later, at a meeting with campaigners, the company again refused to consider paying the Living Wage.
Marks & Spencer is supposed to be a company with solid values threaded through all that they do, which includes paying workers fairly.
This year, on 7 July a group of Craftivists will be attending the M&S AGM to deliver hankies to the Board Members and to call on M&S to provide a Living Wage to their workers.
Crafters will be giving M&S handkerchiefs with personalised and positive messages stitched into them to all 14 board members of M&S, as well as to its largest shareholders and to the 2014 celebrities who featured in the company’s advertising campaign – listed here along with their Twitter handles: Annie Lennox – @annielennox; Alex Wek – @TheRealAlekWek; Rita Ora – @RitaOra; Dowreen Lawrence – @BD_Lawrence (hoping she will love this campaign as a Labour Life Peer); Lulu Kennedy – @_lulukennedy and Rachel Khoo – @rkhooks. Emma Thompson doesn’t do Twitter.
Craftivist Gemma has created a hanky, accompanied by a letter for Alison Brittain, one of M&S’s Board of Directors, to encourage her to adopt the Living Wage for the M&S employees.
She also went to a Craftivist stitch-in outside an M&S in North London with fellow campaigners ShareAction, where, she explained, “we finished our hankies and spoke with some curious passers-by about what we were doing.”
The idea of the stitch-ins is to show M&S that in addition to major shareholders with billions of pounds under management, its core customer base is also fully engaged and supportive on the issue of the Living Wage, and that they expect the company to show leadership on this basic fairness issue.
“I was really shocked and saddened,” she continued, “to hear that a company like M&S, who display some commitment toward the environment and worker’s rights, through their Plan A initiative, refuse to pay their workers a Living Wage.
“To be clear, this means that some M&S workers may have to claim benefits alongside full time work, just to keep their heads above water.
“For a FTSE 100 company, this is totally unacceptable!”
Sian joined the Cardiff stitch-in for a Living Wage outside Marks and Spencers Simply Food at the train station on at Tuesday evening after work because people should be able to cover their basic needs from their wages instead of having to work three jobs to make ends meet.
“I think most people (including me!) would be surprised that well-loved big businesses like Marks and Spencers don’t pay the living wage to all their employees and once people are aware of it they are much less likely to shop there, she said.
“Paying all staff the living wage shows that you are company that cares about its staff and I hope my attendance at the stitch-in helps show M&S that their customers and lots of the general public want M&S not to blow this chance to use their power and influence to help implement a Living Wage in M&S and lead the way for other retailers to do the same.
“I’m a craftivist as I love how if a group of people sew or do any type of craft together really interesting conversations happen, and if you are doing a craftivist project these conversations can be about basic rights, politics, globalisation, kindness and equality, and if you’re holding a stitch-in in public then it’s a great way to take those conversations further and to raise awareness in an open, creative and non-threatening way.”
And Caroline explained: “I am lucky enough to have worked in well paid jobs, so now I can afford to give my time for free to causes in which I believe. I act to be part of the change I want to see in the world.
“I have been decorating and stitching over many hours a message on an M&S hanky which I bought using my M&S credit card.
“This labour of love is not for a friend, but for someone I do not know – and whose heart I want to touch.
“Vindi Banga is a board member at M&S and chairs their Remuneration Committee.
“I want to inspire him to understand that the true quality of a retail brand will be shown, not by their executive pay proposals, but how they treat all their staff and the staff of direct contractors (such as those who clean the stores).
“They need to transform their pay policy if they really believe as they say in the 2015 annual report that their people are at the very heart of M&S.
“All working people in the UK deserve to be paid enough to live on and not have to rely on additional state benefits.
“I want M&S to show leadership and sign up for #LivingWage accreditation.
“Vindi has the power to be a force for good and I want to urge him not to blow that opportunity. Mr Banga is Sikh so I found a relevant quote with the help of my Sikh friend.
“I’ve stitched ‘By the karma of good actions, some come to serve the Perfect Guru’ by Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji on to my hanky for Mr Banga.”
It took over 150 hours and 14 craftivists to make these bespoke hand-stitched hankies for each @marksandspencer board member.
These gifts will be given out at the M&S AGM to encourage each board member to use their power to help implement a #LivingWage.
Please join in by tweeting a positive message to @marksandspencers, encouraging them to lead the way in retail #AStitchInTime for a #LivingWage
The craftivists will also be handing 250 special handkerchief craft kits with a Living Wage message printed on them to shareholders at the company’s Annual General Meeting, so that the shareholders can stitch too, to encourage themselves to support the Living Wage.
These kits include an ethical hanky, needle and thread, instructions, and a briefing note on investment risk.
Sarah Corbett, founder of the Craftivist Collective, said: “Marks & Spencer is supposed to be a company with solid values threaded through all that they do, which includes paying your workers fairly.
“We’re sending the board and shareholders these carefully hand-stitched handkerchiefs to encourage the company not to ‘blow’ their chance to support life-changing decisions.”
Hi! Just wanted to add that yesterday I sent my petition of 50,000 signatures to the M&S CEO to strongly demand that they give all their staff the living wage immediately.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/555/897/500/
Petition is here