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Employers' pension contributions are "pay" for statutory recognition purposes

A recent decision by the Central Arbitration Committee (1) ("the CAC") suggests that, for the purposes of a method of collective bargaining imposed under the statutory trade union recognition regime, negotiations over "pay" include negotiations over either the level and amount of employer contributions to, or the level of benefits available under, employer-provided pension schemes, depending on the nature of the scheme in question.

On 12 December 2000, the CAC issued a declaration that the union, UNIFI, should be statutorily recognised under Schedule A1 to the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 ("the Schedule" - see generally Statutory trade union recognition (1): basic procedure) as entitled to conduct collective bargaining on behalf of all of the London-based employees (other than agency staff) of the Union Bank of Nigeria plc ("the bank") employed below the rank of assistant manager.