Labour Court recommends £400 and £800 payments in Fort James pay dispute

The Labour Court recommended that Fort James Limited (Formerly Jamont Ireland Limited) pay £400 to one general operative and £800 to another in full and final settlement of the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union’s claim over Grade F pay. The recommendation was dated 12 February 1999. The union said the two workers should have received Grade F pay from 1994 because they did the same work as a colleague. Fort James said one worker’s 1998 upgrade reflected new responsibilities and the other had kept Grade E pay in a specially created yard job. It also said both had previously been upgraded in error and later sold the increases back. The Court cited a history of individual agreements made without the knowledge of company or union principals. It said a promotion had been kept secret and that the company’s later attempt to buy it out made the situation harder to accept. Taking account of efforts to normalise procedures and one claimant’s later promotion, it recommended the payments.