Falkirk hypermarket staff reportedly forced to turn to food banks

Richard Leonard said he supported the GMB union and demanded action from Asda after a number of employees reported they had been forced to turn to food banks and payday lenders due to growing inaccuracies and unreliability issues regarding their salary.

Mr Leonard said: “We all applauded for these workers, who continued to weather the pandemic, and they deserve our continued thanks and support. The fact that they have to turn to food banks and payday lenders when there is a gap or delay in their wages shows how poorly paid they are.

“Asda must resolve this issue immediately.”

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Mr Leonard contacted Asda store managers in his constituency after the information emerged

In his letter to store managers in the Falkirk area, Mr Leonard said: ‘It has come to my attention that there has been a significant increase in the number and frequency of inaccurate wages being paid to employees at Asda and I am writing to ask you to take the necessary and urgent action to remedy this.

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“I understand this has been a problem for some time, but it seems there has been a dramatic increase in recent weeks and as a result workers have no certainty that they will be paid accurately and on time. .

“This has resulted in and increased the number of Asda workers turning to payday lenders and using food banks. As you are no doubt aware, workers in the retail sector are vastly undervalued and certainly under – rewarded for their work.

“While the workers and their union, the GMB, appreciate that the nature of the contracts you manage means that mistakes can be made when workers work extra shifts on short notice and close to pay deadlines, my information are – even taking this into account – there has been a significant increase in payroll errors.

“This issue is not unique to your store and I have written to other Asda stores in my constituency asking those responsible to take action to resolve this issue locally. I will also write to head office asking them to take action within the Asda group to resolve this issue.

Asda said a ‘small number of colleagues’ received incorrect pay due to a ‘mistake’, adding it had now taken action to resolve the issue, apologizing to those affected by the problem.

An Asda spokesperson said: ‘It is imperative that our colleagues receive the correct amount, on time, and we are sorry that an error with our payroll partner has resulted in a small number of colleagues receiving incorrect salary.

“As soon as we became aware of the issue, we took action to address it and put measures in place to ensure no one is left behind. We are working closely with our payroll partner to ensure May this not happen again and we are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused our people.

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