Asda accused of ‘chasing lost cause’ in pay dispute

Representatives of Asda and GMB, the union which represents its workers, are due to appear in Manchester Crown Court today, in the latest round of a legal dispute between the grocer and union over pay disparities between workers in-store versus distribution centres.

GMB argues that “work carried out in stores, which is predominantly carried out by women, is of equal value to that carried out in Asda distribution centres which is predominantly carried out by men”.

The union and supermarket chain have been locked in a dispute over the issue since 2016, when GMB brought claims from 17,000 workers to the Employment Tribunal and won.

Asda appealed that decision, but the appeal was thrown out by the tribunal in August 2017. The supermarket then appealed to the Court of Appeal in January 2019, and lost again.

A spokesman for Asda said that the Employment Tribunal hearing is to resolve ”specific points in dispute in the job descriptions about detailed aspects of the jobs, which the independent job evaluation experts will then use in their assessments”.

GMB legal director Susan Harris said Asda is wasting money on appeals and should accept defeat on the issue.

“While Asda waste money on lawyers’ bills chasing a lost cause, losing appeal after appeal, tens of thousands of women workers remain out of pocket.

“It’s about time for this highly profitable supermarket giant to stop blocking the legal claims of our women members, accept the ruling of the courts and get its shop in order.

“Instead of seeking to impose a wildly unpopular so-called ‘flexible’ contract on the very same workforce, Asda should be addressing a historic pay injustice which has seen women workers losing out for years.”

The Asda spokesman said: “This hearing is to ensure that the job descriptions used by the job evaluation experts are accurate and that the language used to describe the jobs is objective and precise.

“At Asda, 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 centres are very different; they operate in different market sectors and we pay the market rate in those sectors regardless of gender.”