Asda has been accused of offering its male staff a larger pay rise than its female employees.
The GMB Scotland union has hit out at the disparity in pay between the Big 4 grocer’s shop floor and warehouse workers, saying it will widen the gender pay gap that has been at the heart of a long-running legal battle.
Earlier this month, Asda’s store staff, who are mostly women, were given a 3.6% increase in pay, taking them to £9.66 an hour.
However, warehouse workers – mostly men – are currently negotiating their pay rise and rejected an increase that would have taken their hourly rate to £11.98.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court ruled that 40,000 shopfloor staff could be compared to colleagues in distribution centres and would therefore be entitled to equal pay.
READ MORE: Asda ranks bottom of Oxfam supermarket ethical scorecard
“Asda retail staff are being exploited and undervalued every hour of every working day,” GMB Scotland organiser Robert Deavy said.
“Tens of thousands of working women are being paid less than a tenner an hour for their basic rate of pay – up to £3 an hour less than their male equivalents in distribution.”
“Asda needs to value their workers properly with a pay increase that tackles soaring inflation and they need to take full responsibility for their chronic sex discrimination by settling their equal pay liabilities, which could easily run into billions of pounds.”
An Asda spokesman said: “Retail and distribution are separate and distinct market sectors and the demands of jobs in stores and depots are very different.
“We pay colleagues the market rate in each sector regardless of gender.”
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