ASDA Equal Pay Protest, Glasgow
GLASGOW. Asda Govan Superstore, 500 Helen St, Glasgow G51 3HR
Shop workers from across Scotland rally to demand equal pay in Asda
Women working in Asda stores around Scotland rally today, Monday 6 November as their battle for equal pay escalates.
Staff from Dundee, Perth, and Edinburgh travel to the demonstration outside the Asda Govan Superstore, in Glasgow, as GMB Scotland steps up the campaign for fair pay.
The rally is the first planned in a new phase of the long-running fight for women working in Asdastores to be paid the same as male colleagues in distribution centres, who earn £2 an hour more.
Asda is now facing the largest ever private sector equal pay claim from 50,000 current and former workers and Robert Deavy, GMB Scotland organiser, says it is time the company did the right thing.
He said: “Women’s work in Asda and elsewhere has been undervalued too long and it is beyond time for that to change.
“Asda must understand this issue is not going away and our members are not going to be silent.
“The company should stop spending money on lawyers and start discussing how to pay their women staff what they deserve. “It must understand that every obstacle placed in their way only makes our members more determined.”
Two years ago, the Supreme Court upheld an earlier tribunal rulings that lower-paid shop staff, who are mostly women, can compare their roles with the jobs warehouse workers, who are mostly men and better paid.
ASDA EQUAL PAY: MORE THAN 100,000 RETAIL WORKERS START WORKING ‘FOR FREE’ FROM TODAY
November 6 the day predominantly male distribution workforce will have already earned what the predominantly female retail workforce will take home in a year
More than 100,000 Asda retail workers will work ‘for free’ from today when compared with their colleagues in depots, GMB Union has said.
November 6, dubbed ‘Asda Equal Pay Day’ by the union, is the day the predominantly male workforce in distribution will have already earned what the predominantly female retail
workforce will take home for the entire year [1].
This means retail staff face 39 working days before Christmas where they will effectively be paid nothing, compared to their distribution colleagues.
Asda is currently facing the largest ever private sector equal pay claim, with approximately 50,000 current and former workers suing the company.
A landmark hearing takes place in September which will have huge implications across the entire retail sector.
Nadine Houghton, GMB National Officer, said:
“It’s scandalous that up to 100,000 Asda retail workers will essentially be grafting for free for the rest of the year.
“The entire retail sector has been built on the structural undervaluing of women's work - but GMB members are changing this with their historic fight for equal pay in Asda.
“Asda can afford to pay its women workers what they are owed; the cost of settling the equal pay claims is about £2.1 billion – exact same value as the £2.1 billion divident.
Shop workers from across Scotland rally to demand equal pay in Asda
Women working in Asda stores around Scotland rally today, Monday 6 November as their battle for equal pay escalates.
Staff from Dundee, Perth, and Edinburgh travel to the demonstration outside the Asda Govan Superstore, in Glasgow, as GMB Scotland steps up the campaign for fair pay.
The rally is the first planned in a new phase of the long-running fight for women working in Asdastores to be paid the same as male colleagues in distribution centres, who earn £2 an hour more.
Asda is now facing the largest ever private sector equal pay claim from 50,000 current and former workers and Robert Deavy, GMB Scotland organiser, says it is time the company did the right thing.
He said: “Women’s work in Asda and elsewhere has been undervalued too long and it is beyond time for that to change.
“Asda must understand this issue is not going away and our members are not going to be silent.
“The company should stop spending money on lawyers and start discussing how to pay their women staff what they deserve. “It must understand that every obstacle placed in their way only makes our members more determined.”
Two years ago, the Supreme Court upheld an earlier tribunal rulings that lower-paid shop staff, who are mostly women, can compare their roles with the jobs warehouse workers, who are mostly men and better paid.
ASDA EQUAL PAY: MORE THAN 100,000 RETAIL WORKERS START WORKING ‘FOR FREE’ FROM TODAY
November 6 the day predominantly male distribution workforce will have already earned what the predominantly female retail workforce will take home in a year
More than 100,000 Asda retail workers will work ‘for free’ from today when compared with their colleagues in depots, GMB Union has said.
November 6, dubbed ‘Asda Equal Pay Day’ by the union, is the day the predominantly male workforce in distribution will have already earned what the predominantly female retail
workforce will take home for the entire year [1].
This means retail staff face 39 working days before Christmas where they will effectively be paid nothing, compared to their distribution colleagues.
Asda is currently facing the largest ever private sector equal pay claim, with approximately 50,000 current and former workers suing the company.
A landmark hearing takes place in September which will have huge implications across the entire retail sector.
Nadine Houghton, GMB National Officer, said:
“It’s scandalous that up to 100,000 Asda retail workers will essentially be grafting for free for the rest of the year.
“The entire retail sector has been built on the structural undervaluing of women's work - but GMB members are changing this with their historic fight for equal pay in Asda.
“Asda can afford to pay its women workers what they are owed; the cost of settling the equal pay claims is about £2.1 billion – exact same value as the £2.1 billion divident.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Fair pay, equal pay, when do we want it now?
00:07 I'm Jackie Ballantyne, I'm National Deputy Rector for GMB Scotland.
00:23 As in Government today we're having a demonstration day, it's national for our equal pay claim.
00:28 Yeah, us female workers are getting paid less than the male workers in ASDA.
00:32 It's been going on now for a good few years and the pay difference is obviously a big amount.
00:36 If we get this equal pay claim this means so much to us.
00:39 For me personally, I had breast cancer and I had to return to work after an illness and after losing my dad.
00:46 I didn't have a chance to grieve over my dying dad because I had to return due to the cost of living, bills etc.
00:54 People who are retiring also, they would have been able to retire a long time ago or take early retirement if we'd been paid this extra money.
01:02 Yeah, the public support is amazing and obviously your councillors as well has been great.
01:07 Pay up ASDA, just pay up, pay the money.
01:10 And if you don't get what you're looking for any time soon Jackie, is this likely to continue?
01:14 Oh yes, 100%.
01:16 There'll be more demonstrations, we're going to keep the fight, this is our money, we're entitled to it.
01:20 We've got over 100 freewheel workers here today, colleagues, not just from ASDA, from the care homes.
01:26 They've come from Perth, Dundee, Ayrshire, Glasgow.
01:29 This is national today so it's not just in Scotland, it's elsewhere as well.
01:33 What's the feeling of the ladies on the picket line?
01:35 Very, very strong feelings today. We're angry, we want this money.
01:40 Don't waste money on adverts with Michael Bublé, don't waste money on jets, spend the money on us.
01:45 We deserve this money, it's our money.
01:47 Tell me, when is it going to court?
01:49 It goes to court in September 2024, it goes to Supreme Court.
01:53 And how confident are you that you've got a good case?
01:55 Very confident.
01:56 My name's Fiona Todd, I've worked at ASDA Government for 20 years.
02:03 The Iser brothers have managed to buy themselves private new jets, umpteen numerous private cars.
02:09 They've paid umpteen millions to Will Ferrell, Michael Bublé and Tracy Solomon,
02:15 but they can't pay us our extra money for our equal pay.
02:19 We need this money more than anybody else.
02:22 Colleagues have died waiting for this money.
02:25 It's time to start paying up. Pay up ASDA, it's time to pay.
02:29 Stop fighting us in court, do the honourable thing and start paying up now.
02:34 Do you take encouragement from the pay claim from the women in Glasgow City Council?
02:38 Yeah, we take encouragement from that because they've won their case
02:42 and we know that they're being paid out.
02:45 It might not all be paid out, but we're taking encouragement from that.
02:48 And what about your male colleagues, have they given you support?
02:50 Yeah, because they're all in the same boat as well in the shops.
02:53 Albeit the depots are mostly male dominated, but there are women in the depots that still work there as well.
03:00 Disgusted, absolutely disgusted because we're all in the same boat
03:05 and it's the equal pay law got passed in 1975, so why are we still fighting this now?
03:11 We shouldn't be fighting this anymore. We should all be on the same page.
03:15 We're not, so stop fighting us, start paying.
03:18 Michael Bublé is the face of the new Christmas ad campaign.
03:22 Will Ferrell was last year's campaign and they won the ratings war with all the other retailers.
03:30 They're hoping to do the same again with this year's retail campaign.
03:34 So we're not supposed to know what they've paid.
03:38 Last year's campaign was supposedly disclosed, that £14 million that was paid to Will Ferrell.
03:44 We're not sure what they've paid this year to Michael Bublé, but I'm sure it will get out at some point.
03:50 We don't know what they've paid Stacey Solomon for her retail campaign,
03:54 but that money could have been paid to us to pay out our equal pay claims.
03:59 It's the gift of God like Christmas, everywhere we go.
04:08 Shame on you Asda, pay up, pay up this money you have stolen from these women colleagues.
04:14 Pay up now, stop throwing money at lawyers and pay up.
04:17 Justice today, justice tonight, pay up now.
04:20 [Cheering]
04:22 [Music]
04:28 [MUSIC]