Some booksellers at Waterstones have set up an online petition seeking to have the U.K. bookstore chain pay its employees a "real living wage," and so far more than 6,000 people have signed the petition, the Bookseller reported.
Written to managing director James Daunt, the "Waterstones: Become a Living Wage Employer" petition seeks a starting wage of £9 (about $11.86) an hour in the country and £10.55 ($13.90) in the Greater London area.
A living wage, the petition stated, "will have a positive impact on the lives of booksellers, their performance in the role, and the success of the bookselling industry. Working for a rate of pay that is below the living wage results in booksellers who are stressed, preoccupied and who have little spare time and energy to devote to buying books, reading them, and keeping up with news and trends in the industry--all of which activities are undertaken outside contracted hours, and which many staff consider to be (and are encouraged to view as) integral to their role."
The petition was set up by April Newton, a bookseller at Waterstones Piccadilly in London, who told the Bookseller: "Booksellers at Waterstones work long hard hours and have incredible knowledge, you are on your feet all day working with something that requires a big intellectual effort and it reflects badly that people on the front line are so undervalued. The level of response has been incredible and it's really encouraging to see so many people agree and think it's the right thing to do."
Daunt told the Bookseller that he was aware of the petition and has been focusing on "career progression and rewarding long-serving staff with higher pay," adding, "We would all like to wave a wand and just pay it and have the same differentials for everyone above it. If you're being fair you bump everyone up proportionately and if we do that, we would find ourselves in considerable straits and the business has come from a deep, dark and horrible place and we are not taking it back there. It's a tricky time for high street retailers and in one sense I'm a great believer in the real living wage and the principles that underpin it, and the national living wage is a hugely popular thing that we've been able to ride ahead of. There's a constant debate about the real living wage and we are talking about it. I don't believe our responsibility as a company is just to deliver that, my responsibility is to deliver good pay and career progression."