Morrisons is set to reduce its employer pension contributions for hourly-paid staff, while hiking the employee contribution rate, a union has claimed.
According to Unite, the supermarket chain is planning to cut its contributions towards employee pensions from 5% to 3%, and require employees to pay 5% of wages into their pension, rather than the current 3%.
The union, which represents 1,000 Morrisons warehouse workers, estimated that the company would save £10 million a year as a result of the change.
It claimed that the changes will only affect hourly-paid staff. Senior managers and directors, who are paid an annual salary, will not see any changes to their pensions.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Morrisons is planning to fleece workers by hiking their pension contributions while slashing its own contributions to the scheme. This is blatant profiteering and a disgraceful new low for this well-known supermarket.
“The pension schemes are in surplus and the company is in profit, there is no justification for this attack. Unite will support its members in whatever action they choose to take and strike action is a distinct possibility.”
Morrisons pension changes
Auto-enrolment into savings boosts financial wellbeing
Morrisons plans to introduce the changes in two stages. From 8 March 2024 it will move to 4% employer and 4% employee contributions, and from March 2025 it will introduce 3% employer and 5% employee contributions.
Unite said that Morrisons planned to make the changes because of forthcoming legislation to extend pensions automatic enrolment to employees under the age of 22. The Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) Act 2023 gained Royal Assent in September, but no date for its introduction has seen set.
Under the changes, employers will need to pay a minimum of 3% of salary a year into a pension on any earnings an employee makes up to £50,270, unless an employee opts out of the scheme. The lower earnings limit will be removed.
Unite national officer Adrian Jones said Morrisons is wrongly claiming it needs to make cuts to pensions as a result of the changes.
A Morrisons spokesperson said that the legislation will mean the company will be putting more into employees’ pensions.
The spokesperson said: “We have recently communicated to colleagues a proposal to make some changes to pension arrangements.
“There will be a formal consultation process lasting until early January 2024 but it’s important to note that the amount of money Morrisons is putting into colleague pensions will actually be going up when the auto enrolment changes come in.”
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