Glasgow City Council 'pauses' plan to fire and rehire 23,000 workers

Glasgow City Council says its plan to fire and then rehire more than 20,000 of its staff under new contracts is on hold after "constructive" talks with the Scottish government and trade unions.

The council had previously said all of its non-teaching staff would be dismissed and reintroduced with new contracts, with details to be sent to individuals concerned next week.

The change for 23,000 workers was set to take place on New Year's Day, after talks to resolve a long-running equal pay dispute with GMB, Unite and Unison collapsed.

But now Glasgow City Council has said it has "agreed to pause the process of dismissing and re-engaging staff following constructive discussions with the Scottish government and trade unions".

Councillor Allan Casey said: "I'm pleased that we've reached a position following a meeting with the Scottish government and the three unions where a pause has been agreed."

He added: "Our goal remains clear: to secure collective agreement on a new pay and grading scheme that is free from discrimination and can be put to the workforce in a ballot."

Mr Casey said the pause will allow "the ACAS package to be put back on the table" and "create the space" for more negotiations.

The council had previously claimed GMB and Unite agreed to ballot members on an offer it said "would have seen a substantial injection of cash to fund additional back pay and take the possibility of dismissals off the table".

It had added that Unison had withdrawn its support for the measure - but Sylvia Haughney, Glasgow education convener at the union, said the local authority's claims that it was to blame for the situation were "misleading" and "false".

Ms Haughney said the policy of fire and rehire was "utterly immoral", "shockingly deplorable" and that most of the staff receiving pay cuts were women.

Also prior to Friday's announcement, council spokesman Colin Edgar was asked by Sky News' Scotland correspondent Connor Gillies if he could guarantee that all those being sacked would be rehired.

He replied: "All of the people will be reengaged. It will not affect their continuity of service. It won't affect their pensions.

"Their contract will change at midnight on 31 December. But we value the work that people do, and people in this city need those people doing that work."

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Mr Edgar admitted that a group of staff would see their wages go down by almost £11,000.

Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra had said: "It beggars belief that the SNP council is threatening to railroad through fire and rehire before it is made illegal in this country by the UK Labour government."

(c) Sky News 2026: Glasgow City Council 'pauses' plan to fire and rehire 23,000 workers