Supreme Court rules against Tyne and Wear Metro operator in long-running pay dispute

The UK’s highest court has ruled against Tyne and Wear Metro operator Nexus in a long-running pay battle.

A Supreme Court judgement handed down on Wednesday has been hailed as “vindication” for current and former Nexus maintenance staff who have been engaged in a dispute which has lasted more than a decade. The row centres on Nexus and trade unions’ differing interpretations of a pay agreement dating back to 2012, which affects around 150 workers.

At the time, Nexus offered to consolidate a 25.5% ‘productivity bonus’ into staff’s basic pay packet. The RMT and Unite unions have since contended that the employer should have also increased a separate allowance for working particular shifts in line with that pay uplift, as the shift allowance was calculated by reference to basic pay, but Nexus has refused to do so and denied that this was its intent.

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While the unions have claimed that staff have been underpaid because of the refusal to increase the shift allowance, Nexus argues that there was a mistake made in the pay agreement and has sought to have it rectified – a disagreement that has sparked years of litigation.

Some 70 staff brought a claim against Nexus in a 2015 employment tribunal, known as the ‘Anderson proceedings’, and while they were successful there has yet to be a ruling on any payment remedy in that case and similar claims since brought by other staff have remained pending. That is because Nexus began separate proceedings in the High Court in 2020 seeking to rectify the alleged mistake in the original pay agreement.

The unions applied to have the claim dismissed, arguing that the court has no power to order the rectification of a collective agreement which is not legally enforceable and that any claim for rectification ought to have been made in the earlier proceedings. That application was initially rejected in the High Court, but the Court of Appeal later ruled in favour of the unions.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed a subsequent appeal by Nexus. While the latest ruling does not decide how much money Nexus may have to pay out to the affected workers, Lord Leggatt and Lady Simler wrote in their judgement that Nexus cannot now seek rectification to avoid the wage claims from the Anderson proceedings – adding that it would be “an abuse of process” if Nexus were to seek to undo the result of that employment tribunal and deprive the Anderson claimants of their victory.

However, Nexus will be free to use the rectification argument when defending itself against pay claims in other related cases.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "This has been a complicated and long running legal dispute on behalf of Nexus workers. Our victory at the Supreme Court shows not only that we were right all along but that Unite will take the fight, on behalf of its members, all the way to the highest court in the land where necessary.

"This is a legal precedent that will be incredibly important to the wider union movement. This is a vindication for our members who would not allow their employer to pick their pockets."

A Nexus spokesperson said: “We note the ruling of the Supreme Court, acknowledging that this latest judgement was largely administrative in nature. Now that the Supreme Court has provided clarity on procedural routes, we will carefully consider the next steps in the case with our legal team.”