War-grave gardeners threaten action over pay cuts

Gardeners who tend British war graves on the Continent are threatening legal action over "massive" pay cuts.

Gardeners who tend British war graves on the Continent are threatening legal action over "massive" pay cuts.

The 77 gardeners who work in European cemeteries, including Ypres and Normandy, contend that new employment conditions mean a drop in earnings of up to 30 per cent.

Legal advisers of the Transport and General Workers' Union, representing the staff, say the new pay system is tantamount to unfair dismissal because they have been "dismissed" from their existing contracts.

Chris Kaufman, a national union official, said his members were also the subject of unlawful "unfair treatment", as half a dozen area directors, also employed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, were on £55,000 a year and enjoyed tax concessions not available to the gardeners.

Mr Kaufman said his members would prefer not to take court proceedings or industrial action and were willing to undertake fresh talks with the commission. "They do not want to do anything that brings the graves into disrepair," he said. "It is not just work, but a matter of honour for them."

He said gardeners were on basic wages of between £11,000 and £13,500 but allowances made their total earnings up to around £20,000. A new system could cut this by up to £6,000. He said it was imperative there was no cut in the number of gardeners, "who provide a welcoming face to so many visiting British relatives".

A spokesman for the commission said the changes, which affected all its overseas staff, related only to the cost-of-living part of contracts. The employer was confident the new system would allow staff to maintain a similar standard of living to that they would enjoy in the United Kingdom.