Victory for Unison in pay progression battle


In a long-running battle to secure incremental pay progression for members working for Nottingham City Council, the UNISON public services union has won a ruling from the Court of Appeal.


The dispute dates back to 2011 when the council refused to give staff pay rises as they progressed up salary scales. UNISON supported their members in arguing against this. Ultimately, Employment Tribunal (ET) proceedings were issued in 2013, in which the council workers asserted that the council was in breach of contract by failing to allow the incremental wage progression.


The ET claim was rejected and UNISON helped its members appeal the decision to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). The EAT ruled in favour of the workers, but the council refused to accept defeat and appealed the decision to the Court of Appeal.


The Court of Appeal confirmed unanimously that the council had been in breach of contract when refusing to allow the wages to increase. 


Christina Sanna, UNISON’s Nottingham City branch secretary, said they were “absolutely thrilled” with the Court of Appeal’s decision and that it would mean that the members would finally “get the pay they have worked hard for and deserve”. 


Dave Prentis, UNISON general secretary, emphasised that while there was “much sympathy for cash-strapped councils” who’d had their funding slashed by the government, “Nottingham shouldn’t have been making its employees pay the price”.

www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2018/796.html

https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2018/04/win-employees-nottingham-city-council