Sarah Creedon* works in an Asda petrol station. Here she explains how being involved in the Equal Pay Now campaign will help her, and her colleagues, get the recognition they deserve.
Most of the staff at the store I work in are involved in the equal pay claim, which makes me feel protected.
There’s a big group of us who are really friendly, and we’ve had meetings every step of the way.
Working for Asda you don’t feel respected. We get no support from the managers.
I work in the petrol station, and I’ve had abuse from customers and even been physically attacked.
People who work in the warehouse don’t have to deal with the public so they’re not under the same stress as we are. If someone can’t pay, we have to fill in a form which requires us to ask customers for personal information. This means we’re dealing with data protection.
We also have people driving off without paying which means we’re in contact with the police and trawling through CCTV.
It’s a lot of pressure and that pressure has increased during the pandemic because I’m working nearly double the amount of hours. My contract is 19 hours a week, but during Coronavirus two members of staff have been off shielding so I’ve been doing 38-40 hours.
At the start I was going without breaks and being paid as if I was having breaks. I can work from 6.30am-4pm and none of the managers will check to see if I need a break.
Just a thank you would be nice because at the moment I don’t feel appreciated.
If we were to receive equal pay, I would feel that the work I do and the responsibilities that rest on my shoulders are actually appreciated.
Everyone I work with involved in the claim goes above and beyond and this would finally be our recognition.
You can find out more on the Asda Equal Pay campaign and how to join here.
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