Over 1,600 Co-op employees have taken action against the company over complaints that they are being paid less than their colleagues at Co-op’s distribution centres.
The complaint is from mostly female shop-workers who argue that they should receive pay similar to their predominantly male colleagues in the company’s distribution centre, who receive up to £3 more per hour.
The Co-op has now submitted a “comparability concession”, bringing the company a step closer to officially recognising that the different roles are equally valuable.
Tom Hewitt of solicitors Leigh Day, which is representing the workers, said, “Leigh Day is delighted to be able to tell Co-op staff that they have cleared the first hurdle in their claims for equal pay.”
“We hope that Co-op recognises that they can no longer deny that the work store workers do is of equal value to that of their distribution centre colleagues."
