A GROUP of school dinner ladies who claimed they were victimised by St Helens Council after bringing equal pay claims have won a victory at The House of Lords.

St Helens Council could now have to pay out awards totalling £360,000 to the 36 dinner ladies, The House of Lords today ruled in favour of the women who claimed they were victimised by St Helens Borough Council in Merseyside after they brought equal pay claims against the local authority.

The women's fight for justice was backed throughout by their trade union the GMB. Now five law lords unanimously backed the women in their claims against the council for sex discrimination and victimisation.

The result means that a tribunal will now assess the award due to the women which could be up to £10,000 each.

The root of the case dates back to 1998 when the women, along with 473 others, claimed equal pay with male road sweepers.

The majority accepted the terms of a settlement offered by the council but the remainder took their claim to an employment tribunal and won. The tribunal awarded them £560,000 for their equal pay claim.

However, two months before their claims were to be heard a senior council official sent two letters, one to the women and the other to all the catering staff.

Within the letters it said that if they continued their claims and were successful, there would be "a severe impact on all staff".

Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury said this was "effectively a threat". The letter warned of redundancies and said there was a danger that the claimants might deprive children of school dinners.

The letter sent to all catering staff resulted in, according to Lord Hope of Craighead, "some odium" for the claimants from colleagues, who feared for their jobs and their ability to pay for their children's lunches. This was, the Law Lords said, "a classic case of blaming the victims".

The Lords said that the original employment tribunal had been right to conclude that the women had been victimised.

They said the letter was "intimidating" and said that the indirect threat it contained was just as likely to deter an employee from enforcing her claim as a direct one.

Noting that equal pay claimants are "particularly vulnerable to reproach", the Lords said that "however anxious the employers may be to settle, they should not exploit that vulnerability in their attempts to do so".

GMB National Secretary for Public Services, Brian Strutton said on behalf of the 36 claimants: "All they did was to exercise their legal rights as low paid women workers to claim equal pay for the jobs they do for St Helens and for the community.

"And yet they were victimised by their employer as a result. They were made to feel they would be personally responsible for the council's claimed financial difficulties if they were successful.

"It was extremely distressing to be told by their employer that their action might lead to cuts, to children going hungry at lunchtime, to colleagues losing their jobs or not receiving pay rises."

Mr Strutton added: "St Helens acted wrongly towards these women and now they'll have to pay up for it.

"The fact that GMB took these women's equal pay claims to employment tribunal in the first place should have told the council that we would not stand by and let our members be victimised.

"We are proud to represent our women members in the pursuit of equal pay with the support of Thompsons, our lawyers, and the support of the EOC, the CRE and the DRC. We are very pleased with the outcome and hope that it serves as a warning to other employers."

In response St Helens Council issued a statement which read: "This issue is part of the national debate on equal pay in the public sector and goes back to 1998.

"St Helens was one of the first councils to fulfil its obligation in terms of settling equal pay claims and liabilities.

"St Helens has led the way in the public sector and introduced a new fair pay and grading structure. This was fully agreed by the Council's joint trade unions and good relationships continue.

"Equal pay is a major issue facing the whole of the public sector and many other councils and trade unions across the country are facing litigation from employees and members. Many councils are facing substantial liabilities which have yet to be resolved."

Meanwhile, Michelle Cronin, the women's solicitor at Thompsons said: "As Baroness Hale says in today's judgement, women workers have suffered injustice in the labour market for centuries. There is still an unacceptable gender pay gap.

The Equal Pay Act 1970 provides a mechanism by which women workers can establish that their work is "equivalent" to that of male colleagues and the right to claim equal pay. That the victims of the injustice of unequal pay are then victimised for pursuing that right is disgraceful.

"Today's judgement should make clear once and for all to employers what their response to equal pay claims should be.

"They can negotiate with the trade unions and their solicitors by all means to avoid litigation for all parties, but they cannot intimidate individuals and expect to get away with it."