Asda: Huge equal pay court case starts amid demonstrations

A court case over equal pay involving more than 60,000 Asda workers has started amid demonstrations being staged in Brighton and Manchester.

The GMB union, which has said the case is the biggest ever in the private sector, is arguing that the predominantly female retail workforce is paid up to £3.74 an hour less than the mainly male warehouse workforce and that shop floor work should be of equal value to warehouse work.

Workers demonstrated outside the TUC Congress in Brighton and in Manchester where the case is being held.

As the hearing began Andrew Short KC, representing the union, told employment judges: “Job evaluation is not a science or an exercise in mathematics.

“Asda is in the business of getting goods to customers so customers can buy them. All the jobs do that.”

Short suggested Asda’s pay structure placed a higher value on jobs done mainly by men and undervalued jobs typically done by women. “It is a fundamental flaw,” he added.

It is the second stage of a long-running case and the current court case is expected to last three months.

Nadine Houghton, GMB national officer, said: “Asda workers are making history. The result of this hearing will call time on the retailers undervaluing their predominantly women shop floor workers.

“The entire retail sector has been built on the structural undervaluing of women’s work but GMB members are changing this.”

Asda: ‘We continue to defend these claims’

An Asda spokesperson added: “We fully respect the right of current and former colleagues to bring this case, however, we strongly reject any claim that Asda’s pay rates are influenced by gender.

“There are numerous different jobs within retail and within warehouses. 

“We continue to defend these claims because retail and distribution are two different industry sectors that have their own distinct skill sets and pay structures.”

Case comes after Next lose £30m equal pay claim

The case comes after fashion retailer Next lost a major legal battle today over unequal pay in its UK operations.

The Employment Tribunal ruled last month that the company had failed to show paying its sales consultants, most of whom are women, lower hourly pay rates than staff in its warehouses, which are male dominated, was not sex discrimination.

Next had argued that the market wage for a warehouse operative was greater than for a sales consultant and gender did not come into it.

But the Tribunal ruled that when there are two labour markets doing equal work but the male-dominated market is paid more than the female-dominated market because of differences in the market rate, that reason alone is not a lawful defence in an equal pay claim.

As a result, Next could be forced to pay out as much as £30m, according to law firm Leigh Day, which brought the claim against Next on behalf of 3,500 current and former staff.