The pub chain has been accused of advertising jobs at below the national minimum wage on its website.
Pay as low as £6.08 an hour was being offered, according to the Socialist Worker, a claim JDW said must be historic as it can find no reference to it.
Undercover investigation
One unnamed Wetherspoon pub manager apparently confirmed that the low rate was correct when challenged by the revolutionary socialist newspaper in an undercover investigation in which it applied for jobs with the group.
A Wetherspoon spokesperson told The Morning Advertiser: “We’ve checked all the vacancies listed on the website and there isn’t that amount listed as a minimum wage, so that must be an historic reference.”
When the Socialist Worker spoke to another Wetherspoon manager about the £6.08 hourly rate he said: “That sounds really low.”
Wetherspoon says it pays the national living wage in all its pubs.
A sliding scale
Under its website section for careers and jobs it says staff associates aged 21 and over are paid an hourly rate ranging from £7.60 to £7.90, depending on location and training. Those aged 18 to 20 years of age get an hourly rate from £6.15 to £6.65, again depending on location and training. The under-18 years hourly rate is £5.00 to £5.25.
Current national hourly rates for the national living wage and the national minimum wage vary on a sliding scale, dependent on age, from £7.50 for those aged 25 and over to £4.50 for under-18 year olds.
Apprentices aged under 19, and those 19 and over in the first year of their apprenticeship, get £3.50.