Contracts of employment: Collectively "agreed" variation to terms not valid

In South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council v Graham, the EAT holds:

• A "local agreement", for the purposes of the National Joint Council for Local Government Employees' collective bargaining agreement, should be construed as meaning either an agreement by all the locally recognised trade unions, or an agreement that has been determined by a process agreed by all the recognised unions.
• Such a process may require unanimous agreement, or may allow for majority voting. In this case an agreement made between the employer and the largest recognised union outside an agreed process did not constitute a local agreement capable of incorporation into a local government employee's individual contract of employment. There had, therefore, been an unlawful deduction from her wages, and the appeal would be dismissed.