This Complainant commenced employment with the Respondent on the 8th of November 1976 as a ‘Leading Hand Painter’. The dispute concerns the application of an agreement at the point of retirement.

A restructuring took place within the Respondent company in 1996. Under the restructuring, the Complainant’s group sought to have its role upgraded from Grade B to Grade C by means of a job evaluation process, but this was unsuccessful. It was acknowledged at the time that, in the future, it was unlikely that the painters’ role would change sufficiently to meet the criteria for an upgrade in salary.  It was therefore agreed that if that did happen, the remaining members of the painter’s group would be awarded