A campaign for equal pay at supermarket giant Asda is being stepped up.

The GMB said Monday marks the day on which the predominantly male distribution workforce will have already earned what the mainly female retail workforce will take home in a year.

The union is pursuing an equal pay claim against the company which it says will have huge implications across the retail sector.

National officer Nadine Houghton said: “It’s scandalous that up to 100,000 Asda retail workers will essentially be grafting for free for the rest of the year.

“The entire retail sector has been built on the structural undervaluing of women’s work – but GMB members are changing this with their historic fight for equal pay in Asda.”

An Asda spokesman said: “At Asda, male and female colleagues doing the same jobs in stores are paid the same and this is equally true in our distribution centres.

“We continue to defend these claims because retail and distribution are very different sectors, with their own distinct skill sets and rates of pay.

“Asda’s owners have not taken any dividends since they acquired the business in 2021 and it is inaccurate and misleading to suggest otherwise.”