Sainsbury's shop floor workers are one step closer to higher pay after the supermarket admitted their roles are as tough as higher-paid warehouse staff.
Staff in Sainsbury's distribution centres can be paid £1.50 to £4 an hour more than those working stacking shelves or working on checkouts.
This adds up to a difference of thousands of pounds a year between the roles.
The 3,714 Sainsbury’s workers have brought equal value claims against the supermarket, arguing that their work is as demanding as distribution centre roles.
Sainsbury's worker Ann Gris (not her real name) is one of the workers fighting for better pay.
Yorkshire-based Gris said: "Asking for recognition for that is not a big request and this goes someway in doing that.
“Sainsbury’s have a duty to listen to their employees and they say they are. But sometimes it takes constant effort to be heard and can be hard to raise issues in a way that will be considered properly.
It’s hard to go through all of this knowing that we’re being paid less than people in the distribution centres. Especially as I don’t think they have the same pressures as we do.”
This is the first step in their fight to get equal pay.
The supermarket now has to prove there is a reason for the pay gap that isn't based on gender, or else show that the two roles are not equal in value.
Law firm Leigh Day is representing the Sainsbury's workers.
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “We will continue to robustly defend our position in this litigation because we stand by our position that roles in stores and depots are fundamentally different.”
“At Sainsbury’s we’re proud of our long-standing commitment to gender equality and we pay our colleagues according to their role, not their gender. Men and women in our stores are paid an equal hourly rate. Men and women in our depots are also paid equally. To suggest otherwise is wrong.”
But the issue of shop floor workers not getting as much pay as other employees of the same supermarket is much broader.
Leigh Day is also working on behalf of workers at Morrisons and the Co-op in similar cases.
Also, in June thousands of Tesco shop floor workers won a legal argument in their fight for equal pay.
At the time the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that workers can compare their role with someone working elsewhere.
This applies if a single source - like a supermarket - has the power to correct the difference in pay.
Leigh Day employment team solicitor Mike Keenan said: “This is a huge milestone for Sainsbury’s shop floor workers and truly something to celebrate.
“Now that Sainsbury’s finally agrees shop floor workers compare their roles to workers in distribution centres, we can focus on what’s at the heart of these claims: whether the work is of equal value.
“Leigh Day believes it is and we’re confident that the employment tribunal will agree.”
Two weeks ago The Mirror reported that hundreds of convenience stores across the UK are facing more food shortages after lorry drivers threatened to walk out over a pay disparity by Tesco.
HGV drivers at Booker wholesalers - which is run by Tesco and supplies Londis and Budgens - raised concerns over a £5 pay rise offered to some workers in July.
Tesco implemented a £5-an-hour pay rise for drivers at its Booker depot in Hemel Hempstead but refused to pay a similar increase to HGV drivers at its Thamesmead site, union Unite said.
