The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of 40,000 Asda shop floor workers who called for equal pay with warehouse staff.

The employees, who are predominantly women, argued that their roles were just as valuable as the male-dominated Asda warehouse jobs.

GMB, the union for Asda workers, has called on the retailer’s bosses to meet to discuss the next stage of the shop workers’ compensation claim, which could run to £500 million.

“I’m delighted that shop floor workers are one step closer to achieving equal pay,” said Wendy Arundale, who worked for Asda for 32 years. “I loved my job, but knowing that male colleagues working in distribution centres were being paid more left a bitter taste in my mouth.

She added: “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.”

Susan Harris, GMB legal director, said: “This is amazing news and a massive victory for Asda’s predominantly women shop floor workforce. We are proud to have supported our members in this litigation and helped them in their fight for pay justice. Asda has wasted money on lawyers’ bills chasing a lost cause, losing appeal after appeal, while tens of thousands of retail workers remain out of pocket.We now call on Asda to sit down with us to reach agreement on the back pay owed to our members – which could run to hundreds of millions of pounds.”

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