Union wins action for ZSL London Zoo catering workers

It has been revealed that Unite has won a claim on behalf of all catering staff who transferred from ZSL London Zoo to Charlton House Catering (trading as Ampersand) because of a failure to consult in advance of changing their employment conditions detrimentally.

This failure to consult, contrary to Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment (TUPE) Regulations, has resulted in a binding financial settlement which will benefit 33 workers – both union members and non-union members.

Unite Legal Services instructed its Solicitors, Pattinson & Brewer, to act on their behalf and Adrian Taylor, ZSL Group Secretary, said he was very pleased with the outcome:

“Justice has been served for our members, and for once their co-workers also benefit as they saw first hand how Unite can make a real difference to their working conditions and stand up for them.”

Paul Statham, of Pattinson & Brewer, added:

“Sometimes employers breach existing employment law for the sake of expediency, and this can have a dramatic effect on the contractual rights of the staff on whom they depend. Fortunately in this case a sensible view was taken, agreement reached all round and, hopefully, a useful lesson learned for the future.”