Glasgow City Council to fire and rehire thousands of staff after pay talks break down

Staff at Glasgow City Council are to be told they will be “dismissed” and issued new contracts to impose a new pay and grading structure.

Talks between the local authority and trade union Unison broke down, and the council said it has “gone as far as it can”.

Glasgow City Council said that because there is no agreed way forward, it will have to dismiss all non-teaching staff and issue new contracts to bring to an end its discriminatory pay and grading structure.

It would affect approximately 24,000 members of staff.

After eight years of negotiations, the SNP administration and Green group voted to push ahead with an overhaul of the council’s pay and grading structure last month.

Around 11% of the staff affected would see a reduction in their earnings if the new pay and benefits scheme were implemented.

The local authority acknowledged that the plan would leave some roles “in detriment” and said that it would explore “every possible mitigation” to help those affected.

Where earnings decrease, pay will be protected for six months, while a new system of allowances and standardise the approach to public holidays will also be introduced.

However, unions warned that thousands of staff would face significant financial loss under the plans.

Trade unions GMB and Unite had agreed to ballot members on a proposal for a cash injection to fund additional back pay and to take the possibility of dismissals off the table.

This was dependent on all three unions balloting their members, and Unison withdrew its support on Wednesday.

The council’s director of communications and corporate governance, Colin Edgar, said: “The council has gone as far as it can. The new pay and grading scheme removes unequal pay and sees pay rise or stay the same for 90% of staff – the council’s total pay bill will be substantially higher.

“For those staff who are in detriment our Joint Trade Unions negotiated an increase in pay protection from 6 months to 12 months. Additionally, some trade unions are devoting energy to local consultations to mitigate the impact on those colleagues in detriment – focussing on providing specific solutions.

“We acknowledge the joint statement made by GMB and Unite unions earlier today. Officials had hoped to have further talks with Unison this afternoon to understand why they are not willing to consult their members, but they did not attend a scheduled meeting.

“The offer which has been unilaterally rejected by Unison would have taken dismissals off the table and seen additional cash for those members of staff, and members of all unions, who are due back pay.

“It beggars belief that they would betray their own members in this way.

“If the Joint Trade Unions ballot their members on these enhanced terms and make a collective agreement we will of course withdraw these notices. If they are unable to do that then staff will be reengaged on the terms set out in the recently agreed City Administration Committee report which do not include the enhancements.

“We understand that issue of dismissal notices, regardless of how much we reassure people that we intend to re-engage, will cause significant concern to our staff which is why we have worked so hard to avoid this necessity. We value our staff and we want their service with us to continue. This is purely precautionary, but it could and should have been avoided.”

In a letter to members, Unison said: “Unison is disappointed that GMB and Unite have chosen to issue a communication in relation to recent discussions with ACAS and Glasgow City Council. It was just over a month ago that we jointly stood calling on councillors to vote against the pay and grading proposals, which leave thousands of workers in detriment.

“The council has tabled £110m in additional funding towards assimilation and arrears. The money was solely for this and does nothing to address workers who are facing detriment. The council refused to discuss or consider further improvements to their proposals beyond this.

“Unison welcomes this additional funding for arrears. Thousands of women fought for years against the council to secure equal pay and the additional funding is wholly deserved. Unison is the only trade union to take the council to court over equal pay and win.

“The council invited us to meet with ACAS because they wanted our assistance to avoid new workers’ rights that come in January 2027. That is not our role as a trade union. Any agreement would have tied our hands and limited our ability to fully campaign and ballot our members on their rotten proposals. The council did not have to issue dismissal letters today and it was their choice to do so.

“There are nearly 2000 workers facing detriment and we are fighting for them right now. We will continue discussions with the council to make improvements. There is not enough money invested in the cash values for the new grading structure, in the allowances model or in pay protection. The proposals do not deliver fair pay for workers

“For the avoidance of doubt, Unison will ballot our members on any offer once we have exhausted discussions.”