Scottish council announces fire and rehire plans after equal pay negotiations “break down”: report

This comes after equal pay negotiations between Glasgow City Council and its Joint Trade Unions have broken down, with Unite now calling for negotiations to restart.

The talks were about the council's plans to replace a pay system found to discriminate against mostly women workers.

According to the BBC, the changes would see the majority of staff unaffected or better off, but they would cut pay for 11% of staff.

The council said it had tabled an offer including extra funding for back pay and pay protection extended from six to 12 months, which would have taken dismissals off the table.

GMB and Unite agreed to put the proposal to a vote among their members, but UNISON withdrew its support on 23 September.

In a Facebook post, UNISON Glasgow City Branch, 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 confirmed it will ballot its members on any offer once it has “exhausted discussions”.

A Unite spokesperson said: "It's clear that negotiations need to restart to resolve this dispute in the interests of workers.

"However, this clearly can't happen until the disgraceful threat of fire and rehire is withdrawn by the council."

Glasgow City Council has been approached for comment.

Lottie Winson