Celebrate Your Successes!

Any win on Equal Pay is a win for everyone. Celebrate your win, no matter how big or small it feels, so that others can see that better is possible. Your success in winning a fairer pay structure in your workplace changes that workplace for the better. If women are paid equally to men for similar work then the value we place on that work changes and that changes society. Winning on equal pay now ensures better pay, conditions and working lives for future generations. Be proud of what you have achieved!

What can you do to celebrate?

Tell your members and other colleagues about it. The employer might want to sell this as their success, but don’t forget who prompted/forced the employer to act. Being part of a collective of union members shows potential members that there is strength in numbers, and if they can win the right to equal pay, they can win on other workplace issues too. Use your contacts from the campaigning stage, MPs, Councillors, community groups and the press so that they can share in the success they helped to bring about.
Talk to new employees about joining the union group and share your story of success with them.
Consider contacting your regional/national union and/or media team for wider promotion. Your Union can also use the examples for things such as training events and courses.
Tell the Equality Trust so we can amplify your story!

Union Stories: GMB

GMB members in Dundee, Birmingham and across the UK in ASDA stores have lodged thousands of equal pay claims with the aim of pay justice and recognition of the value of their work. In March 2021 they hailed a ‘massive victory’ as the Supreme Court ruled in favour of 40,000 workers. The ruling means shop floor staff at Asda can be compared to workers in the distribution centre for the purposes of their equal pay claim.

Wendy Arundale, who worked for Asda for 32 years, said: “I’m delighted that shop floor workers are one step closer to achieving equal pay. I loved my job, but knowing that male colleagues working in distribution centres were being paid more left a bitter taste in my mouth. It’s not much to ask to be paid an equal wage for work of equal value, and I’m glad that the supreme court reached the same conclusion as all the other courts.”

Each campaign and each claim lodged is a reminder that we have a long way to go to ensure that women’s work is properly valued and rewarded. Building on our successes and experience is key to preventing equal pay issues in the future and ensuring that women will be paid equally for work of ‘equal value’ from the start.