Glasgow City Council Drops Fire-and-Rehire Plan for 23,000 Workers

Glasgow City Council has abandoned plans to "fire and rehire" more than 23,000 workers after reaching an agreement with trade unions that extends pay protection to three years.

The settlement, reached after negotiations involving the council, the Scottish government and the unions Unison, Unite and GMB, removes the threat of forced new contracts that workers were due to start in the new year. The original pay protection offer was shorter; unions pushed it to three years.

The dispute centred on a revised pay and grading structure designed to resolve historical and ongoing equal pay claims from female workers at Scotland's largest local authority.

What does the deal change?

The core change is procedural but consequential: the council scraps dismissal and re-engagement as its implementation mechanism. Council leader Ricky Bell said: "This deal means we are able to remove the unpalatable prospect of fire and rehire, with proposals put to members in a ballot later this month."

Bell added that both GMB and Unite have agreed to take the offer to their members, with Unison now engaging its membership. "We are moving closer to the outcome we have always wanted to achieve: ending pay discrimination in Glasgow City Council," he said.

What remains unresolved?

Talks continue before Unison members vote later this month. Open items include:

• Treatment of lower-paid workers
• Allowances
• Unevaluated jobs
• Equality impacts
• Operation of the new pay model

Chris Sermanni, Glasgow City branch secretary at Unison, spelled out the uneven distribution of outcomes across the workforce. "Staff will have three years' pay protection and further commitments around workers facing detriment," he said, while cautioning: "Other workers face significant losses and some still don't even know their final outcome."

Sermanni also stressed the scale of money at stake for a substantial group: "Thousands of workers are owed substantial and long-overdue increases and we want them to receive every penny."

What role did the Scottish government play?

Ministerial involvement proved decisive in unblocking the talks. Mandy McDowall, regional organiser for Unison Scotland, said: "The intervention of the Scottish government has helped create the space for further progress."

Unison Scotland now plans what McDowall called "a major workplace campaign across Glasgow" so members understand "what's on the table, what has been won and what remains unresolved" before voting.

What it means for the workforce

For the 23,000-plus affected employees, the deal buys certainty on pay protection through the transition period but defers final answers on individual outcomes. Workers expecting corrections to historical pay discrimination stand to gain; those in roles losing value under the new grading model face a three-year cushion, after which their position depends on details still under negotiation.

The council frames the package as the route to "a fair, sustainable pay and grading system that works for employees and protects vital public services," in Bell's words. Union ballots later this month will determine whether the settlement holds.