DELIGHTED workers have won a gruelling four-year legal battle against IBM over controversial pension changes.

The High Court in London has ruled that the computing giant breached its duty of good faith to members in closing its defined benefit (DB) schemes.

Now Inverclyde man Stuart Dalgleish is being praised by colleagues from across the UK for his leading role in the massive ‘David versus Goliath’ victory.

He was the first named defendant in the case, which began back in 2010.

Mr Dalgleish told the Tele that he could not comment on last week’s ruling as legal procedures in the case were still not yet completed.

But a colleague, who did not want to be named, said: “He spearheaded it all the way from Greenock — it’s brilliant.

“IBM as a corporation were looking to save money and in order to do that they stopped their final salary pension and stopped the ability to retire early.

“There were two or three other things that came out of this and basically we thought it was unfair and the court has agreed with this.

“I put my money into a fighting fund four years ago and it’s taken that time to get to this stage.

“The court has ruled against IBM and they are going away to think about how to take it forward.” The judgment, from Mr Justice Warren, found the UK subsidiary of the multinational business had not met legal responsibilities towards members when it closed the schemes to future accrual and implemented an early retirement policy. The court also found IBM UK misled members during the consultation process prior to closure.

It is believed that thousands of employees across the UK were affected by the measures, including many who worked for the firm at its sprawling Spango Valley site in Greenock, which has almost completely disappeared now.

A further hearing will be scheduled to assess remedies following the judgment.

An IBM spokesperson said the firm ‘respectfully, but fundamentally’ disagreed with the court’s decision.

Bosses also signalled that they will challenge the court’s decision. He said: “The court’s opinion acknowledges IBM’s right to make changes in its UK pension programmes, but we believe the court applied an incorrect legal standard in invalidating IBM’s exercise of that right.

“IBM fully intends to seek leave to appeal at the appropriate time, and remains committed to providing its employees and retirees compensation that is competitive and in line with market conditions.”