Glasgow council workers face fire-and-rehire pay cuts after union talks collapse

Thousands of workers employed by Glasgow City Council are facing dismissal and rehiring under less favourable terms, in what is being described as one of the UK's largest ever "fire-and-rehire" exercises, after talks with trade unions collapsed for a second time this week.

About 23,000 workers — all of the council's non-teaching staff — were told last week that they could be affected, after negotiations between the SNP-led council and the GMB, Unison and Unite unions broke down. The talks concerned a new pay and grading system intended to resolve long-standing pay equality issues within the council's workforce.

Union refuses ballot on offer

Unison said it had refused to put the council's latest offer to a ballot of its members, arguing that the proposal would leave about 11% of council employees worse off in pay terms. Following the union's refusal, the council began issuing fire-and-rehire letters, under which staff could be formally dismissed and then reappointed on new terms.

Fire-and-rehire is a disputed industrial relations practice in which an employer terminates employees' contracts and offers to re-engage them on different, often less favourable, terms. Unions have long criticised the approach as a way of bypassing standard collective bargaining.

The dispute centres on a new pay and grading structure that the council says is designed to address historical pay equality issues among its workforce. Unions argue the changes would create new losers among staff, particularly the roughly one in nine employees who would see their pay reduced.

Neither the council nor the unions have set out a clear timetable for resolving the dispute, and it remains unclear how many of the 23,000 affected workers might ultimately receive fire-and-rehire letters.