IT is the largest working theatre in the UK and plays host to the biggest stage productions in the country.

Edinburgh Playhouse has for decades welcomed audiences in their thousands, with some of the best actors and performers treading its boards.

However, the historic venue has recently been experiencing a drama of its own in a pay dispute with its staff.

Theatre owners the Ambassador Theatre Group Ltd (ATG) have been forced to pay out tens of thousands of pounds in backdated pay following a legal battle over wage increases.

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ATG refused to honour a pay agreement negotiated by entertainment union BECTU, prompting 25 workers to raise a claim at an employment tribunal.

The staff have now been awarded pay outs totalling £20,000, while a further 70 employees will also receive back pay and wage increases as a result of the case.

Paul McManus, Scottish negotiating officer for BECTU, said: “BECTU has a national agreement with the UK Theatre employee association which covers all the theatres outside of London.

“This sets the minimum pay rates that people can be paid working in theatres each year and we negotiate pay increases based on those minimum rates.”

He added: “This all worked fine until 2017 when ATG decided that they weren’t going to follow that agreement anymore.”

The tribunal heard that despite the national agreement, theatre workers can also negotiate local, or house, agreements and Playhouse staff did this in 2005.

This meant that they were on a higher rate than the minimum negotiated nationally.

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However, the house agreement also stated that “the minimum rates for each grade... shall increase annually with the agreed BECTU increase for each appropriate grade”.

In 2017, a national increase of 4.2 per cent was set for certain grades of staff, however the Playhouse decided to only pay this increase to those on the national minimum wage and increase the others by just 2 per cent.

Employment Judge Muriel Robison ruled that this was wrong and breached the workers’ contracts.

In a written judgment on the case she stated: “I concluded... that the terms of the national agreement and, where appropriate, the house agreement, were to be binding on the parties.”

She added that as ATG had paid increases in line with national agreement in previous years, this indicated an “intention for ATG to be bound by the terms [of the agreements]”.

Judge Robison also said that while she appreciated the company’s concerns about fairness among staff, she was “required to apply the relevant legal provisions”.

However, she claimed it was now open to ATG to take steps to try to amend staff contracts if they are unhappy with them.

Solicitor Paul Deans, from Thompsons, who represented the workers, said the case highlighted the “advantages of union membership and the power of collective bargaining”.

He added: “Without the collective bargaining power of the union, the Playhouse staff would not be legally entitled to these well-earned pay rises.”

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A spokeswoman for ATG said the group was disappointed with the tribunal’s decision.

She added: “We took appropriate advice and applied the pay deal as we understood it. This was correctly applied across our UK venues, however the tribunal decided that this did not take into account the additional house agreement, specific to Edinburgh.

"We have since met with employees in Edinburgh and have adjusted pay rates in line with the tribunal decision.

"Edinburgh Playhouse generally pays it staff rates of pay that are above BECTU negotiated levels and has done so for many years."

The Playhouse first opened its doors in August 1929 and was originally used as a cinema.

Built by renowned cinema architect John Fairweather, the grade A listed building was originally modelled on the Roxy Cinema in New York.

The cinema closed down in 1973 but a string of petitions to save it eventually led to the council refurbishing it and opening it as a theatre in 1980.

Since then it has changed hands on a number of occasions, with ATG taking over in 2010.