Labour Court backs union’s retrospective pay claim at Sunday Newspapers

In 1990, the Labour Court recommended that Sunday Newspapers Limited concede the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union’s claim for retrospective pay parity for despatch staff. The recommendation was signed on 23 November 1990. The company had restored parity between the despatch department and machine room in October 1990, after the machine-room rate rose in December 1989. The union sought back pay for the intervening period, including overtime at parity rates. The company opposed retrospection, but the Court said its earlier concession of parity left it little option but to concede the union’s claim.