Glasgow City Council has been branded “pathetic and cowardly” after threatening to dismiss 23,000 non-teaching staff and rehire them on new contracts from January 1 unless trade unions agree to ballot members on a new pay deal.
The SNP-run administration on Scotland’s largest local authority said it would terminate the employment of its non-teaching staff and rehire them under new terms, a tactic widely condemned as fire-and-rehire.
Political backlash
Graeme Downie, a Labour MP, called the threat “pathetic and cowardly”. Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra said: “It may not break the letter of the law, but it certainly breaks the spirit of it.”
Marra added: “It’s a despicable way to treat working people. It’s straight out the Tory playbook. All parties need to get round the table and hammer out a deal. Working people should never be threatened like this again.”
Pay dispute breakdown
The move follows the collapse of talks between the council and the GMB, Unison and Unite unions. The council said the dismissals were a response to Unison refusing to ballot its members on a new offer.
Unison has said it will “ballot its members on an offer once discussions have concluded” and argued that staff must not be “bounced into a shoddy deal”.
The local authority is trying to resolve a long-running equal pay dispute which threatens to effectively bankrupt the council unless resolved by the end of March.
Minister urges negotiation
Scottish Government Justice Secretary Neil Gray said the council must “get around the table” to resolve the dispute. He said the Scottish Government supports “fair work principles” but did not comment further on the situation.
Gray added: “I’ve led enough pay talks in my time to know that people commenting outside do not help those getting round the table. So I would encourage all of those involved, all partners, Glasgow City Council and the trade unions involved, to get around the table and to negotiate a solution.”
Colin Edgar, director of corporate governance, said the council had gone “as far as it can” to resolve the dispute. He said: “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.”
Unison Scotland regional organiser Mandy McDowall said: “Glasgow City Council staff are not going to be bounced into a shoddy deal by bosses trying to bully them with arbitrary deadlines. Clearly both sides need to keep talking to resolve matters fairly. The council’s decision to dismiss workers helps nobody.”
Unite industrial officer Graham McNabb said: “Glasgow City Council must remove direct threats to our membership in its proposed new pay and grading structure whether it is through cuts to terms and conditions, or the scandalous threat of fire and rehire tactics. If they go down this reckless path then it will be met with the full force of Unite.”
