Yorks school dinners dispute near to resolution

The dispute in the East Riding of Yorkshire between school dinner ladies and Martin's Contract Catering could soon be resolved.

Union members among the region's 800 school-meals staff had been stopping work an hour early every Friday and refusing to work overtime, following a ballot in November in favour of industrial action.

The row was about workers' terms and conditions, which Martin's was trying to change. A settlement has now been agreed through conciliation service Acas.

Martin's has agreed to compensate workers who have had their pay cut and to reinstate previous terms and conditions. Once this has been done, the unions will drop some 350 industrial tribunal cases pending against the company.

But managing director Peter Martin said that the agreement also depended on the unions agreeing to reductions in the staffing formula used to work out dinner ladies' hours.

The formula, based on the number of meals served at each school, dated back to 1953 and was "archaic", Martin claimed.

He said he was "quite hopeful" that the dispute could be resolved.