9,698
of 20,000 signatures
To Ken Murphy - Tesco CEO
Things have been hard for a while. With food prices set to rise by at least 9%, and possibly as high as 12%, and a recession on the way, things are likely to get even harder.
Most of us are feeling it already.
The food shop costs a little bit more each week, and the bills keep on coming. For Tesco workers, it hits differently. They are spending around £31 more a month on a typical food shop than they did a year ago, at their own tills. And as if that weren't enough, Tesco's pay has not kept up. Workers are still paid 17p below the Real Living Wage, a standard Tesco used to meet but has failed to meet since 2025.
Tesco made £3.15 billion in profit this year, and last year the CEO earned £10,842,069. That's 420 times the typical Tesco worker's pay of £24,581.
Most of us are feeling it already.
The food shop costs a little bit more each week, and the bills keep on coming. For Tesco workers, it hits differently. They are spending around £31 more a month on a typical food shop than they did a year ago, at their own tills. And as if that weren't enough, Tesco's pay has not kept up. Workers are still paid 17p below the Real Living Wage, a standard Tesco used to meet but has failed to meet since 2025.
Tesco made £3.15 billion in profit this year, and last year the CEO earned £10,842,069. That's 420 times the typical Tesco worker's pay of £24,581.
Petition text
A company this profitable can afford to do right by the people keeping its shelves stocked. We're asking Tesco to make four commitments, permanently:
- Pay a real Living Wage and keep it there: Become an accredited Real Living Wage employer, £13.45 an hour, independently calculated every year based on what things actually cost, not what the government sets as a legal minimum. The gap is currently 17p nationally and 25p in London.
- Give workers secure hours: Commit to Living Hours accreditation, giving workers four weeks' shift notice as standard, full pay if a shift is cancelled inside that window, and a guaranteed minimum of 16 hours a week for anyone who wants it. You can't plan childcare, a second job, or your bills if you don't know when you're working.
- Put workers first before any job cuts: Before any compulsory redundancy, exhaust every alternative, voluntary redundancy, redeployment, or reduced hours by agreement. If redundancy is unavoidable, pay at minimum two weeks per year of service, uncapped. Not the legal minimum of one week.
- Be transparent about what the boss earns: Publish Ken Murphy's CEO-to-worker pay ratio alongside every executive pay announcement, and commit to a year-on-year target to reduce it. The public thinks 10:1 is fair. Tesco's is currently 1:420.
These aren't radical demands. They're what a responsible employer with £3.15 billion in profit should already be doing.
Tell Tesco: protect your workers’ pay and hours!
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Tell Tesco: protect your workers’ pay and hours!
