Over 400 employees claim equal pay issue at the Co-op

by XPRESS, 24 January 2020

An equal pay claimed has been made against the Co-operative supermarket chain by over 400 employees.

The Co-op’s in-store employees (mostly women) claim that they are underpaid by comparison to the warehouse workers (mostly men).

The Co-operative is not alone, Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s ad Morrisons have been hit with similar claims.

The first hearing took place at Manchester Employment Tribunal last week. Law firm Leigh Day is representing the interests of the employees and are asking for six years of back pay.

Leigh Day’s head of employment said that the claim arose after store workers found out that they were paid less than warehouse staff. They believe store workers and warehouse staff put in the same effort and are of equal value to the company.

The difference in wages ranges from £1.50 to £3 per hour, which would equate to around £10,000 back pay for the average employee.

The firm believe that around 40,000 employees could be eligible.

The Co-op released a statement saying that they are “confident that our reward practices are fair”.

Emma Richardson