More than 150 MPs have written to Asda bosses calling for an end to pay discrimination of its supermarket workforce.
The letter, backed by the GMB Union, calls on Asda’s majority owners TDR Capital to settle the legal battle which last week saw the cases of tens of thousands of supermarket workers go to the Employment Tribunal, seen as a major legal landmark for supermarkets.
The MPs say Asda must end ‘gender discrimination’. Law firm Leigh Day is also representing thousands of other retail workers in similar claims, including 30,000 shop staff at Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda, and a £1bn claim against Morrisons.
Lead signatory Labour MP Nadia Whittome, former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, and Plaid Cymru Westminster group leader Liz Saville Roberts are among those signing the letter, which calls on TDR Capital founding and managing partners Manjit Dale and Gary Lindsay “to urgently commence settlement negotiations with the GMB Union”.
Last week, protests were held outside the Manchester Civil Justice Centre, where the case began and is expected to last for three months.
It centres on the fact the predominantly female retail workforce at Asda is paid up to £3.74 per hour less than the predominantly male warehouse workforce.
The claimants argue retail work is of equal value to the company as warehouse work.
The letter says: “Over 60,000 current and former Asda retail workers have lodged claims, and with the equal value hearing underway, now is the time for Asda to begin seriously considering how to address the issue of pay discrimination.
“We believe it is simply unfair for people to be paid differently for doing work of the same value.”
GMB national officer Nadine Houghton added: “GMB members working in Asda stores will be delighted to know that politicians support their cause.
“Low-paid women workers have propped up the profits of retail giants for too long. It’s time they are paid properly for the valuable work they do.
“The courts and now politicians are waking up to the scale of discrimination faced by women retail workers, and now Asda’s owners have a chance to do the right thing and pay them what they are owed.”
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