Council's email to pay-dispute staff ruled unlawful

An employment tribunal has ruled a council acted unlawfully when it sent an email to staff about a long-running pay dispute.

Members of the GMB union said they felt an email sent by Wiltshire Council in November 2022, on the eve of a strike ballot, was threatening in its tone.

One person said as a result they “felt like we had a target on our backs”.

The council and the union have been in a dispute over out-of-hours pay for civil enforcement officers - or traffic wardens.

The council said the purpose of the email was not to intimidate, rather to "set the record straight".

It said it was now seeking legal advice about potentially appealing against the tribunal's decision.

The tribunal was told the email was sent the day before GMB members were due to be balloted for strike action and one section of it appeared to suggest a pay offer could be taken off the table.

"Should we be unable to reach agreement, we will need to review whether this offer remains on the table," it stated.

Two other unions - UNISON and Unite the Union - which represented some of the traffic wardens, had already come to an agreement over out-of-hours pay.

The email, sent by the council's chief executive Terence Herbert, stated the council wished to resolve the issue and uncertainty for staff, and asked people to "please consider carefully whether further strike action will support this approach".

It was the first time Mr Herbert - who is moving to another council in the summer - had sent an email directly to the team itself, the tribunal was told.

He told the tribunal, external he had intended to "set the record straight" but denied it was a “bully-boy ploy to intimidate staff from voting yes to industrial action”, as GMB branch secretary Andy Newman said, following the ruling.

GMB said the situation had brought Wiltshire Council into disrepute.

In response to a request by the LDRS, Mr Herbert said the council was disappointed by the ruling as it believed it had a strong position.

He said his intention was to correct inaccurate information and the council's priority was to resolve the pay issue as "quickly and fairly" as possible.