Almost 400 school dinner ladies from Bedford will share a payout of �1.5m after an industrial tribunal found in their favour.

Bedfordshire County Council was found to have breached the Sex Discrimination Act and the Equal Pay Act by cutting the women's pay rates, holiday entitlements and sick pay four years ago.

One of the women involved in the case, Mrs Irene Ferries, a kitchen manager at the John Bunyan school in Bedford, said her pay was reduced by 50p an hour, and other cuts reduced her salary by �3,000 a year.

The trades unions, Unison and the GMB, who backed the women's' complaints, said the settlement agreed by Bedford Industrial Tribunal was a "major victory" for women workers.

The women will each receive between �2,000 and �4,000 in back pay.

John Edmonds, general secretary of the GMB said: "Once again an employer has tried to make our members pay the price for privatisations and once again the law has defended their rights.

Mrs Jan Turner, who works at Caldecote Lower School, said: "To get our pay and conditions back is brilliant. I couldn't understand how the council could cut everyone's pay for public holidays such as Christmas."

A spokesperson for Bedfordshire County Council said the council was satisfied with the resolution of a long-standing problem.
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