£4bn Tesco equal pay claim madness

[barleycorn]

I worked on a checkout. I didn't need a fork truck licence.

 

Its just like driving a car, except backwards. I have driven one in past jobs, without any training, a few hours training and I am sure I could have passed the test. Just like the training to use the till, but no test. Handling all that money, a very responsible job?

Except it's quite difficult to kill someone by incorrectly scanning a tin of beans. Dropping a pallet of beans on someone's head however...

[spilldig]

I pay tesco when I shop there.

 

I pay a second time when tesco dodge their taxes, meaning I have to suffer their immoral lack of financial contribution to society by either paying more tax, or by receiving less public services.

 

I pay a third time when my taxes, rather than going to our NHS or our schools as I would prefer, are funnelled towards in-work benefits so tesco can get away with not having to pay their staff a fair wage.

 

Every little (taxdodger) helps (themselves)

 

We pay a fourth time if they donate to a charity.

 

---------- Post added 08-02-2018 at 11:56 ----------

 

Is that all they get paid ?

 

Maybe tesco should start paying their staff a decent salary so they don’t have to top up their wages with benefits paid for by my taxes ?

 

According to an employee men and women at the distribution center are paid the same and men and women on checkout are paid the same, so do they want equal pay no matter what the job, I genuinely don't know ?

[Guest]

I don’t necessarily disagree but many of us have these clauses in our contracts. I’m just making the case that Tesco may have made some kind of technical error in their contracts that has opened them up to this action.

 

Maybe in pursuit of a super-flexible workforce they inserted clauses that are now being used against them.

 

It isn’t anything to do with their contracts. Equal pay claims can be brought under one of three categories:

 

1. like work - this is where the works involves similar tasks which require similar skills, and any differences in the work are not of practical importance

 

2. work rated as equivalent - this is where the work has been rated under a fair job evaluation scheme as being of equal value in terms of how demanding it is

 

3. work of equal value - this is work which is not similar and has not been rated as equivalent, but is of equal value in terms of demands such as effort, skill and decision-making.

 

Here the employees are arguing that their work is of equal value to that of the employees in the distribution centre, not that it is ‘like work’.

 

If anyone is interested, the link below explains equal pay claims quite well and gives a number of examples of cases where the Employment Tribunal has determined work is of equal value in different types of jobs.

 

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/advice-and-guidance/what-equal-work

 

Different roles can be regarded as being of equal value in terms of the demands they impose such as the:

 

- effort involved

- training or skills necessary to do the job

- conditions of work

- decision-making that is part of the role

 

---------- Post added 08-02-2018 at 17:08 ----------

 

We pay a fourth time if they donate to a charity.

 

---------- Post added 08-02-2018 at 11:56 ----------

 

 

According to an employee men and women at the distribution center are paid the same and men and women on checkout are paid the same, so do they want equal pay no matter what the job, I genuinely don't know ?

 

See my post above.

[Halibut]

By now it should be clear that I am inherently opposed to genuine unfairness and completely in favour of equal opportunities. It's all in the OP.

 

Then read the post above mine and get back to me. Is it genuinely fair that one group of people are doing work of equal value to another and get paid substantially less?

[truman]

Then read the post above mine and get back to me. Is it genuinely fair that one group of people are doing work of equal value to another and get paid substantially less?

 

Who decides the value?

[Guest]

Who decides the value?

 

Ultimately the Employment Tribunal if a claim is brought.

[Michael_W]

Ultimately the Employment Tribunal if a claim is brought.

 

If a tribunal were to find the roles in question as 'equal value', Tesco would not only have to back pay but also upgrade, this would probably create another problem .....Tesco could then expect those workers to be more flexible within these roles of 'equal value', Fred from the warehouse may have to scan the beans at the checkout and Molly from the checkout might have to drive the forklift truck and unload the wagons

[The Joker]

We pay a fourth time if they donate to a charity.

 

you mean the £3.4million that tesco creamed off from their 5p single-use carrier bag charity fund ?

 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/07/tesco-criticised-for-deducting-34m-from-plastic-bag-tax-charity-donations

 

tut tut !

[tinfoilhat]

Ultimately the Employment Tribunal if a claim is brought.

 

Not the business, not the market, but a couple of suits with one eye on their lunch order and the other on a pile of A4 paper which is trying to show how shop and warehouse work are both mega hard and should be paid the same.

[nikki-red]

Childish, off topic bickering has been removed.

 

Stick to the topic please.