Lidl to introduce living wage of €11.50 an hour

Discount grocery retailer Lidl have become the first big employer to commit to a ‘living wage’ for all staff. Lidl operate 143 stores across the country and the introduction will benefit 20% of their entire Irish workforce. 700 staff currently earn below this rate, with the remaining 80% earning above this per hour.

The measure will be introduced from November 1st and is a 30% increase of the Irish minimum wage that is currently set at €8.65. A similar commitment will be introduced for Lidl Northern Ireland staff that will be calculated using the sterling benchmark.

Lidl already pay above average for all of its staff, with entry level wage starting at €10.50 an hour, generally paid to store assistants and warehouse operatives. The new living wage will also rise to €13 per hour incrementally within two years.

Lidl Ireland did not announce the overall cost to the company of introducing a living wage to all staff. However, a similar move that was announced across Britain last month was approximated to cost £9 million.

The Living Wage is an independently assessed and measured rate of income considered necessary to have a socially acceptable standard of living. It is defined as the minimum pay workers need to meet their needs for housing, utilises, transport, healthcare, clothing and food.

Source: http://www.irishtimes.com/business/retail-and-services/lidl-to-pay-irish-staff-living-wage-of-11-50-an-hour-1.2383702

Ballymaguire Food to create 100 new full time jobs

Ballymaguire Foods will create 100 new full time permanent jobs in Lusk, North Dublin. The largest Frozen Ready Meal provider in the country will also create 100 temporary jobs during the construction phase. The state of the art 70,000 sq. ft plant will bring an additional €4 million to the local economy.

Ballymaguire currently employ 150 staff and are the largest producer of chilled ready meals in Ireland. The will be recruiting sales and marketing professionals, food scientists and technicians, research and development, chefs and general operatives over the forthcoming months. The company was founded in 2008 and clients include Tesco, Lidl, SuperValu and Centra.

Ballymaguire, which is fully Irish owned have approx. 80 different offerings. Director Managing Ed Spelman said: Our production capability will now grow to over 500,000 meals per week and this will mainly be used to fuel the opportunities we see in the UK and add to our existing business there. We managed to buck the trend during the recession, as we used it to find new opportunities and successfully grow.

Most popular supermarkets for weekly shops revealed

Figures have been released showing where Irish consumers are likely to do their main weekly grocery shop. The continued trajectory of discount rival retailers like Lidl and Aldi, have intensified the market over the last number of years. Tesco, have come out on top with 33% of all consumers choosing to do their main weekly shop there.

Tesco have had a rough time of late with a sales trough, but in figures carried out by Checkout Magazine and Ignite Research it points them as the most popular supermarket for big spends. Tesco was also the most popular supermarket choice by females. The greatest disparity of genders was Dunnes Stores, with 19% of who were male and 11% of female.

Value for money was frequently cited as the most popular reason for shoppers in Lidl and Aldi. 86% of Aldi shoppers and 81% of Lidl shoppers believed that their respective supermarkets were the cheapest. The German discount rivals have seen the biggest rise in consumers switching.

Source: http://businessetc.thejournal.ie/tesco-shopping-ireland-news-money-2213681-Jul2015/