Wednesday, July 16, 2008

GMB lose Allen Case

Bad news for the GMB and maybe the other public service unions. The Court of Appeal has handed down its very important judgment on this controversal case.

An Employment tribunal (ET) in Middlesbrough in 2006 found that the GMB had indirectly discriminated against union members by recommending a pay deal which did not offer adequate compensation to female members for past unequal pay. The Union was found to have had a legitimate aim of securing a fair deal for all but since they did not pursue the back pay meant that they had not been “proportionate”.

The Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) in 2007 found in favour of the union. Today the Court of Appeal overturned the EAT.

Permission to appeal the House of Lords has been refused. Although I understand that you can appeal direct to the Lords.

There is a 16 page written judgement here.

Employment lawyer Daniel Barnett (e-bulletin) reckons that there are 4,000 claims against the GMB and 7,000 against UNISON. He calls it “A very bad day for unions....”

No comments: