London, United Kingdom (UK)- Rolls-Royce UK has announced it will be giving a once-off payment of US$2 500 to its 14 000 workers.
In addition, the aircraft engineering company said it will be offering a four percent pay rise backdated to March to 11 000 shopfloor workers.
Staff at Derby and Bristol would account for the bulk of the recipients of the additional money, which collectively would equate to a nine percent pay rise for the 11 000 shopfloor workers.
“We are living through exceptional times, with economic uncertainty largely driven by the continuing impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic and more recently the war in Ukraine. All of this is impacting each of us at home, at work and in our pockets. A simple wage increase is just not affordable and, in fact, it would be irresponsible,” said Warren East, Rolls-Royce’s outgoing chief executive.
Rolls-Royce follows Lloyds Banking Group, the UK’s biggest high street lender, in awarding employees additional pay to help them cope with soaring household expenditure.
A number of supermarkets, including Asda and Morrisons, have also handed pay increases to workers in recent weeks.
Supermarket inflation has hit 8.3 percent in the past month, the highest rate in 13 years. The latest evidence of rising inflation comes after the country’s Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) said price rises in the UK could hit 15 percent this summer, the highest level in more than 20 years and high inflation could last into the middle of next year, according to its report published last week.
Food price inflation is being fuelled by the war in Ukraine, which is a key grain and oil seed producer. Disruption to exports from the country as well as sanctions on Russia, which is a big grain and petrochemical exporter, as well as COVID-19-related production lockdowns in China and export bans on key foodstuffs such as palm oil from Indonesia and wheat from India.
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