‘Being part of the claim means that there’s hope’: Tom Millar* has been a nightshift worker for Sainsbury’s in Essex for more than 6 years. Here, he explains why he has joined the Sainsbury’s Equal Pay Now campaign and what the fight for equal pay means to him.
People think the work of distribution centre staff is more difficult and that’s why they’re paid more, but I think it’s the other way around.
The state of deliveries come in from distribution centres is appalling. I’d say we end up doing 80% of their work when the cages get into store.
It’s so annoying that they are paid more than us when we’re having to correct the mistakes they make. Products are supposed to come in sectionalised but that’s not happening.
Distribution staff load up cages, but we have to unload them, reorganise because they’ve just thrown everything in, reload them to bring them into store and then unload them again to stack the shelves. We’re doing the job twice over.
Products come in that are crushed and can’t be used which is causing Sainsbury’s a loss in revenue.
It’s always been a problem but more recently it’s got worse, yet Sainsbury’s still argue that our work is not of equal value.
That’s what made me join the Equal Pay Now campaign. The way things are currently is simply not right.
Being part of the claim hasn’t affected my day-to-day work, it just means that there’s hope that I’ll receive compensation and fair pay.
My managers know that I’m part of the claim, but they haven’t treated me any differently as a result. In fact, I think a lot of them agree with our frustrations.
Store staff spend hours correcting the mistakes of distribution staff and, in my mind, this is the clearest reason for equal pay there is.
*Name has been changed to protect his identity
Click here to find more information on the Sainsbury’s Equal Pay Now campaign and how you can join.
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