Britain's Costa Coffee joins rush to hike worker's pay

By Paul Sandle

LONDON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Customers at Costa Coffee may get an extra-caffeinated level of service on Thursday morning, when the chain becomes the latest British retailer to hike wages months before a government measure to raise minimum pay levels comes into effect.

The chain, part of Whitbread (LSE: WTB.L - news) , said on Wednesday its 12,500 trained baristas would earn a minimum of 7.40 pounds ($11.21) an hour, and 8.20 pounds in London, some 20 pence above the new "living wage" coming in next April (LSE: 0N69.L - news) .

Costa is following in the footsteps of its rival Starbucks (Swiss: SBUX.SW - news) and retailers Morrison and Lidl in announcing pay hikes for thousands of staff in recent weeks.

Costa Managing Director Chris Rogers said the rise had been in the works for months and was not prompted by the government's announcement in July.

"We've been planning for some time to look at the pay rates because we think it's really important our team share in the success of our business," he said. "It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) 's not a knee-jerk reaction." ($1 = 0.6604 pounds) (Editing by David Holmes)