ANOTHER helping of justice has been served to North Yorkshire's determined dinner ladies. After winning a landmark settlement, the women sipped champagne. They should savour the sweet taste of success: they have earned it.

Ten long years ago, 1,300 public sector caterers were the victims of an injustice. Sacked by the county council, they were re-employed on lower pay and fewer benefits. Men doing similar work remained on higher salaries.

It was simply wrong, and the dinner ladies decided to fight. With the strength of their union Unison behind them, they took their employers all the way to the House of Lords, and won, sharing £2 million compensation.

That was a remarkable victory. It restored parity in the council workplace. Furthermore, it sent a warning shot to local authorities and private firms that new rules on competitive tendering were not a charter for slashing the wages of the lowest paid.

Along their pioneering path, others have followed. In 1996, 1,500 dinner ladies in Cleveland won similar compensation after they were re-employed on poorer pay and conditions.

The 1995 Lords ruling should have guaranteed peace in North Yorkshire's school kitchens. But only a year later, the dinner ladies were angered by a cut in their summer payments by employer Castleview.

Yesterday, immediately before the case was due before an industrial tribunal, a settlement was hammered out. Castleview has not admitted liability but the dinner ladies enjoy a share of up to £200,000 in back pay. It is a shame the firm took so long to reach this accord, because it is the right decision for all concerned.

European law dictates that employers must treat their part-time workers as they do their full-time staff. This ruling reminds bosses to think very carefully before reducing the wages or benefits packages of their staff.

North Yorkshire's dinner ladies are no militants. But they have proved that workers are ready and willing to take on their employers to fight for what is right.

Updated: 11:47 Wednesday, June 27, 2001