Asda workers are to take part in demonstrations as their landmark equal pay claim begins.

More than 60,000 Asda workers take their case to the Employment Tribunal on Monday in what is set to be the largest ever private sector equal pay claim. 

TDR Capital and Blackburn's Mohsin Issa have the largest stakes in the supermarket which changed ownership in 2021.

In Manchester, dozens of Asda workers are set to demonstrate outside the Civil Justice Centre, where the case will begin on Monday morning. 

In Brighton, Asda staff will protest at the TUC congress, where delegates will debate GMB’s motion on equal pay for Asda workers. 

The case, expected to last three months, centres around claims that the predominantly female retail workforce is paid up to £3.74 per hour less than the predominantly male warehouse workforce. 

This is stage two hearing of three.

Claimants will argue retail work is of equal value to the company as warehouse work. 

The case is the latest step in a 12-year fight for equal pay by Asda retail workers. This second and crucial stage will likely establish that retail work is of equal value to warehouse work and therefore needs to be paid equally. 

GMB National Officer, Nadine Houghton 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."

Leigh Day partner, Lauren Lougheed said:  “The equal pay team at Leigh Day is very encouraged by the huge success we experienced just last week on behalf of the many thousands of women we represent who have been fighting for equal pay at Next.  

“We hope we will also be successful in the parallel claim we are bringing on behalf of more than 60,000 clients against Asda."

The supermarket revealed the stage two hearing will assess whether certain store-based roles are of Equal Value to some depot-based roles.
 
The tribunal will look at multiple jobs including checkout operators, shop floor staff and customer service desk in retail. In depots the roles include warehouse colleagues who operate high reach trucks and those who work in a chilled/frozen environment. 

Asda would only move to the final stage if the tribunal finds that any store-based roles are of equal value to depot roles. 

An Asda spokesperson said: “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.”

Earlier this Asda, announced proposals for a £150 million investment in pay for retail staff.

The new proposed rates of pay, which will exceed the government’s National Living Wage and the current Real Living Wage and London Living Wage rates recommended by the Living Wage Foundation, are set to apply to colleagues in Asda retail and in Asda Express, subject to ballot.

The announcement saw an 8.4 per cent increase for hourly-paid store workers, with rates rising from £11.11 to £12.04 an hour from July 1.

In February 2021, the Issa brothers ‒ Zuber and Mohsin ‒ and investment funds managed by TDR Capital LLP, a leading UK-based private equity firm, completed the acquisition of Asda.

Then this year, Zuber Issa sold his stake in Asda to the supermarket chain’s private equity backer TDR Capital. The sale brought TDR Capital’s share in the supermarket group to 67.5%, while 22.5% is still owned by Zuber’s brother, Mohsin.