A leading trade union has hailed a Supreme Court decision on union rights as a “historic” legal judgment.
Unite said the outcome of its six-year case will affect union members across the UK.
It took the case against Kostal Ltd, a car components manufacturer from Rotherham, saying it had sought to undermine union negotiations on a rejected pay offer by offering unlawful inducements.
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The original dispute involved around 60 union members.
The Supreme Court has found in favour of the union.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the outcome means no employer can ever offer their employees inducements to undermine union collective bargaining.
She added: “With the support of their union, the workers stood firm. Now they have won an historic case which creates a legal precedent for every union member across the UK.
“It means that employers cannot subvert or bypass union collective bargaining processes by offering their workforces inducements of one type of another to abandon union mandates. That is momentous.”
Unite said the judgment means the workers involved will each receive a compensation payment of around £8,000.
Richard Arthur, of Thompsons Trade Union Law Group, which worked on the case, said: “This is the most important trade union rights case in over a decade, and the first case in the UK’s highest court on trade union bargaining rights.
“It protects the fundamental right of workers to meaningful collective bargaining and has widespread implications for every unionised workplace.”
