The GMB Union has today started balloting tens of thousands of Asda workers in a dispute over pay.
Union leaders have highlighted that Asda is again the worst paying of the big four supermarkets after the other retailers recently gave staff pay rises to help with the rising cost of living.
The GMB noted that Asda’s management has refused to increase retail workers basic pay of £10.10 per hour in line with the other supermarkets.
In the ballot, which closes on 4 December, the union is asking its members if they are happy to accept what is described as a “zero per cent pay offer”.
Asda increased the pay of its 120,000 shop floor workers to £10.10 in July. Since then, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Morrisons have raised their pay above this level. And last month, Aldi announced that it would become the first supermarket in the UK to pay a minimum of £11.00 an hour from 1 January 2023.
Last month, the GMB called on Asda to make an immediate increase in the base rate of shop floor pay to £10.50 per hour with its national officer, Nadine Houghton saying that “without an urgent pay rise, Christmas will be cancelled for thousands of Asda workers.”
Asda has yet to comment on the move to a ballot.
NAM Implications:
- Any guesses re the results (and implications) of the ballot?
