MORE than 700 Bury Council staff who won a legal battle over equal pay have had their hopes dashed of receiving an imminent payout.

Bury Council has now lodged another appeal over the ruling.

The announcement came a week after an Employment Appeals Tribunal upheld a 2009 decision that hundreds of mainly low-paid women employees are entitled to compensation for the years they were paid less than male council workers doing comparable jobs.

Bury Council chief executive Mark Sanders said: “The tribunal’s judgement has major repercussions; for the council, certainly, but more importantly for the taxpayers of Bury. As such, after much consideration, we have decided to lodge an appeal.

“This decision has not been taken lightly. Firstly, it has always been our argument that we had paid our staff fairly for the jobs they were doing and that any bonus payments made in the past were due to increased productivity, not the employee’s sex. Certainly on pay protection the Employment Tribunal has accepted that we did not discriminate on the grounds of sex.

“And secondly, we have to consider the overall costs to the taxpayers of Bury. We have a duty to look after their money, a responsibility we take seriously at all times. We faced claims from more than 1,400 people which, if upheld, could have cost the council many millions of pounds.”

Although Bury Council has already spent more than £700,000 in its fight against equal pay claims, Mr Sanders added: “While there will be additional marginal costs in appealing, these are not likely to be significant at this stage. I also accept that some of our employees, and former employees, will not welcome a further significant delay to the resolution of this. But we feel this action is necessary in the interests of taxpayers.”

Mr Steve Morton, branch secretary of Unison which is representing the majority of the claimants, said: “The costs of a QC are thousands of pounds and are certainly not marginal. Perhaps the people who think this is a good idea should put some of their money into the hat.”

Mr Stefan Cross, whose firm of solicitors is representing around 100 of the claimants, commented: “I’m disappointed by the council’s continuance to spend money on lawyer fees rather than paying it to the women who are entitled to it.”

l—Bury Labour leader Cllr Mike Connolly has called for heads to roll in the wake of the equal pay case.

He claims Bury Council leader Cllr Bob Bibby and his Conservative colleague Cllr Jack Walton should step down and the chief executive, Mark Sanders, should be sacked. Cllr Connolly said: “I am appalled at the way the whole thing has been handled and the council’s latest appeal makes matters even worse.

“Everybody apart from these three seem to think we are defending the indefensible. The appeal is adding to the taxpayers’ bill.

“Mr Sanders said the council’s legal advice was good. We lost, so it wasn’t good. Why should we listen to it again?”

“Cllr Bibby and Cllr Walton should resign and Mr Sanders should be sacked immediately before he steps down in a few weeks.”

A Bury Council spokesman said Mr Sanders did not want to comment further on the issue. Cllr Bibby was not available for comment.

Cllr Walton, who was in charge of resources when the council decided to challenge staff over the controversial issue at an Employment Appeals Tribunal, said: “It’s about the third time Cllr Connolly has asked for my resignation. If that’s the limit of his comments, that’s a matter for him.”