Key step forward in Asda staff pay battle
ACAMPAIGN to win equal pay for women workers at supermarket giant Asda took a major step forward after independent experts visited its distribution centre in Skelmersdale.
An employment tribunal case is being taken on behalf of mainly female shop-floor employees, who are claiming equal pay for work of equal value when compared with predominantly male employees who work in Asda’s distribution centres.
The Manchester tribunal is deciding which information will be included in the job descriptions of six female retail workers, and seven men working in the distribution centres.
It is these detailed documents that independent experts will use to carry out a scoring exercise for the retail and distribution roles, say lawyers.
The job descriptions of the six women are representative of thousands of claimants in the same roles, who form part of the total group of almost 40,000 shop-floor workers, of whom half are GMB members.
The tribunal considered 20,000 pages of documents, and independent experts visited the Asda Wigan store and Skelmersdale distribution centre to observe the jobs being carried out and the working conditions.
The claimants achieved a more favourable outcome on some of the most important aspects of the job role, such as product knowledge, said lawyers from Leigh Day.
Lauren Lougheed, of Leigh Day, said: “This is yet another positive step forward in our case for almost 40,000 Asda shopfloor workers.
“Most significantly, Asda’s suggestion that our clients were not required to have any particular knowledge about products in order to do their jobs was completely dismissed by the employment tribunal.”
Legal director of the GMB, Sue Harris, said: “GMB is very pleased with the judgment handed down in respect of this stage of what is a very lengthy process.
“We have asked Asda to sit down with us to reach agreement on the backpay owed to our members and to ensure they are paid equally with their comparators.
“Let’s stop clogging up the tribunals and courts with hearing after hearing, and sit down collectively to try and resolve these issues.”
An Asda spokesman said: “This equal value case is extremely complex and without precedent in the private sector, so it is vital the issues are given the legal scrutiny they deserve and this case will take many years to resolve.
“Both sides have appealed points during this complex process and none of the appeals have caused any delay to the case, which continues to progress through the tribunal but will still take many years to conclude.
“This latest judgment was to address factual disputes in the job roles at our stores and depots, and not to make any findings over whether the jobs are of equal value.
“The judgment was positive for Asda and, while the findings in relation to the job descriptions are very detailed, the tribunal took a balanced approach.
“Our hourly rates of pay in stores are the same for female and male colleagues and this is equally true in our depots.
“Pay rates in stores differ from pay rates in distribution centres because the demands of the jobs in stores and the jobs in distribution centre are very different; they operate in different market sectors and we pay the market rate in those sectors, regardless of gender.”