51,236

of 100,000 signatures

To John Lewis Partnership

1 in 5 Partners are paid below the Real Living Wage. Full-time and part-time Partners who are paid by the hour and receive less than RLW struggle financially.

Petition text

The John Lewis Partnership (John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners) pays some of its Partners less than the Real Living Wage (currently £9.90 across the UK and £11.05 in London). Without a living wage, full-time workers who are paid by the hour struggle financially and part-time workers with fewer hours struggle even more. Yet the Partnership says that it "cannot afford" to pay all Partners the Real Living Wage – even though hundreds of Partners at the highest levels are paid salaries of £100,000 or more.

There have been internal letters from lower-level Partners on this topic, with some mentioning the financial difficulties faced by Partners who are paid "poverty wages" – yet executives still refuse to commit to paying all Partners at least the Real Living Wage. This feels especially insulting after most Partners at Waitrose worked in stores throughout the pandemic and many Partners from John Lewis either worked from home or helped out at Waitrose stores, all keeping the business going.

JLP executives have told us that they "aim" to pay RLW "when profits are high enough" – yet there is deliberately no set date for this, meaning that RLW is not guaranteed within any timeframe.

The John Lewis Partnership prides itself (and sells itself) on being employee-owned, which is supposed to make it a fairer, more ethical business. There's nothing fair or ethical about paying your employees less than a living wage. The Partnership must change this without delay and pay all Partners what we deserve.

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Real Living Wage for all Partners

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