The intervention of no-win-no-fee solicitors is usually pernicious. Following a union’s successful campaign for equal pay for Public and Commercial Services members in the Prison Service in 2006, a no-win-no-fee solicitor represented non-union members. Those non-members obtained a settlement - minus 25% paid to the solicitor, who appeared to do little more than collect and submit names to the employer. Some solicitors are continuing to monitor our campaigning against unequal pay for the purposes of identifying potential clients. After we have completed the hard legal work they are hoping to make some easy money by representing those who have not made a claim - usually non-union members. There are two lessons here. Firstly, workers should join trade unions. Unions will typically secure better deals for workers than no-win-no-fee solicitors. Secondly, the Equal Pay Act needs to be amended to allow trade unions to make claims to employment tribunals on behalf of groups of workers. This will help to reduce the time and costs involved, and quicken the achievement of fairness and equality at work.
The Guardian