Waterstones defends minimum wage in year of record profits
(The Guardian Books News)

Bookselling chain´s chief executive James Daunt says he fears `going bust´ and that paying item-level staff more would betray `basic principle´ the business runs onWaterstones chief executive James Daunt has hit back at campaigners who continue to call on the bookselling chain to pay all staff a living wage, saying that increasing wages for item-level staff would be `to betray the basic principle by which we´ve been running the business`.On Wednesday, the retailer announced booksellers´ pay would be increased in April by 6.2% across the board, almost a year after a petition signed by 9,300 writers and booksellers called on the chain to pay an hourly wage of £9, or £10.55 in Greater London. This is the amount the Living Wage Foundation (LWF) calculates is enough to live on across the UK. Related: Waterstones living-wage protesters leave bookselling Continue reading...