WORKERS and activists will picket workfare exploiter B&M Stores today after it was revealed that billionaire CEO Simon Arora’s salary had quadrupled to £575,000.

A day of action is planned outside branches across Britain including those in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Birmingham, Newport, Cardiff, Leeds and Aberystwyth.

Currently, 300 people in the homewares company of 19,000 employees are working without pay as part of the Conservative government’s mandatory work programme.

They also face harsh benefit sanctions for making even the smallest mistakes, such as being a few minutes late.

B&M told the Star that 70 per cent of these “colleagues” were eventually offered paid jobs.

But Boycott Workfare has had reports that B&M cuts permanent staff hours and employs people on trial but sacks them after 12 weeks to replace them with workfare labour.

“B&M takes great care to ensure all our employment practices are legally compliant and we are proud of our job-creation record,” a company spokesperson said.

“We do not believe that today’s protests are merited.”

Birmingham Claimants Union wrote on Facebook: “Workfare can only take place if there are employers willing to take advantage of forced labour. And these employers will only do so if they think they can get away with it.

“Public pressure, protests, pickets and social media campaigns have already been hugely successful in forcing businesses and charities to pull out.”