Supermarket giant Asda has been accused of offering a “shameful” pay cut to thousands of workers in a dispute over “legacy” supplements for staff. The GMB union said there were plans to tell employees at 39 stores in southern England that they will lose a 60p-per-hour “location supplement” and have their night supplement reduced.
Those who do not agree will have the new contract imposed on them and could be dismissed if they refuse to sign, claimed the union, describing it as a “fire and rehire” threat.
Asda said it was consulting in a small number of stores where staff were paid a “legacy location supplement” which was out of line with the retail market.
The union said there were plans to implement the change in November. A spokesperson told Sky News cutting staff pay was “shameful” and that tactics to “fire and rehire” employees were “inexcusable”.
National GMB officer Nadine Houghton added: “Cutting the pay of 7,000 low-paid retail workers during a cost-of-living crisis is inexcusable.”
“This supplement is out of line with the wider retail market and has created an anomaly where some Asda colleagues in stores that are close together are paid different rates.
“As part of this consultation, we are discussing a compensatory payment for colleagues in return for the removal of this location supplement, if the proposal goes ahead. These discussions are ongoing and no final decision has been taken.”
Asda has been previously owned by US retail giant Walmart but was taken over by the Issa brothers and TDR Capital in 2021. As of 2021 Asda was the third largest supermarket in the UK, with nearly 15 percent of the market share.
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