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.