Glasgow City Council has announced it will issue dismissal notices to approximately 24,000 members of staff, forcing them to re-apply for their jobs under a new pay and grading structure.
The radical move follows the breakdown of long-running negotiations between the local authority and trade unions. The council stated it has “gone as far as it can” to address a long-standing, discriminatory pay system, and that the move is now a “purely precautionary” necessity to implement the required changes.
While the council maintains that 90% of the workforce will see their pay increase or remain the same, the overhaul is expected to cause financial hardship for roughly 11% of staff. To mitigate this, the council has pledged to protect the earnings of those affected for a period of 12 months, alongside a new system of standardized allowances and public holiday arrangements.
The situation reached a flashpoint this week when a potential deal involving the GMB and Unite unions—which would have provided a cash injection for back pay and removed the threat of mass dismissals—fell apart. That agreement was contingent on all three major unions, including Unison, balloting their members. However, Unison withdrew its support on Wednesday, claiming the proposals were insufficient and did not adequately protect the nearly 2,000 workers facing a reduction in earnings.
Colin Edgar, the council’s director of communications and corporate governance, expressed strong frustration regarding the collapse of talks. “It beggars belief that they would betray their own members in this way,” Edgar said, noting that officials had hoped to meet with Unison to resolve the deadlock, but the union representatives failed to attend the scheduled meeting.
“If the Joint Trade Unions ballot their members on these enhanced terms and make a collective agreement we will of course withdraw these notices,” Edgar added. “We understand that [the] issue of dismissal notices, regardless of how much we reassure people that we intend to re-engage, will cause significant concern… This is purely precautionary, but it could and should have been avoided.”
In response, Unison issued a stinging rebuke, describing the council’s proposals as “rotten” and arguing that the additional funding offered does nothing to address the financial detriment faced by thousands of staff.
“The council did not have to issue dismissal letters today and it was their choice to do so,” a union spokesperson said in a letter to members. “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.”
As the dispute intensifies, the council remains under pressure to finalize the new structure, while thousands of employees are left facing the prospect of formal termination and re-engagement if a collective agreement cannot be reached.
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