Morrisons, the supermarket company, was bought by US private equity company Clayton Dubilier & Rice in 2021 in a deal that saddled Morrisons with £6.6 billion of debt. Over the past year, the company has cut 4,912 jobs, despite its revenues growing by 2.8 per cent to £15.7 billion.
In January, staff in Morrisons’ convenience stores were asked to be more “flexible” – with changed hours, being required to work in different stores to their usual workplace, or take on different duties.
In 2023 the company changed the employees’ pension scheme. Instead of the employer paying 5 per cent and employees 3 per cent, the company switched the rates of contributions to 3 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.
When a private equity firm borrows money to “save” a company, the debt is almost always carried by the acquired company itself. That is, by the workers.