Philip Stott, Socialist Party Scotland
Glasgow City Council (GCC) have agreed to remove the threat to fire and rehire 23,000 of its own workers. The action follows the refusal by the Unison trade union to bow to the terror tactics of the employer.
On Thursday 25 September, GCC announced it was going to press the nuclear button of fire and rehire. While it was forced to retreat within 24 hours, it refused to take the option off the table. That has now been achieved to allow for a ballot of the workforce on the new pay and grading proposals.
In addition, Unison has secured increased pay protection for those facing pay cuts under the council’s new pay scheme. The original plan was to offer only six months of protection. GCC has now agreed to three years’ pay protection for the around 2,000 workers so far who face pay detriment.
Unfortunately, the leaders of the GMB and Unite unions accepted the council’s proposals at an early stage, while Unison continued to fight. Unison’s position has been vindicated by these latest concessions.
As it stands, the council has also been forced to increase payments for arrears for those who have suffered unequal pay by £110 million. This takes the total package for compensation to over £800 million since 2018.
But Glasgow City Unison have also made it clear that they are opposed to all pay cuts. As they explained in their statement: “The council has agreed not to issue fire-and-rehire notices in 2026 while we fight for improvements and ballot our members. Again, it’s the strength of our union which has forced this concession.”
Unison go on: “However, the fight isn’t over, and there are still significant issues that Unison wants resolved. We will continue pressing for additional investment, particularly for lower-paid workers facing losses, alongside further improvements on allowances and detriment.
“We also need clear protection for workers whose jobs have still not been evaluated. Those workers need to know when their evaluations will happen, what their outcome is and how pay protection will apply to them.”
This brutal anti-union council even demanded that Unison accepts the employer’s demands on the wording of the ballot and its timing. And that Unison should not recommend its members reject the pay and grading scheme. This has now been dropped by the council.
Socialist Party Scotland members who are activists and officers of Glasgow City Unison will argue for rejection of the scheme if the issues identified by the union remain unresolved.
While most workers’ wages will increase or remain the same under the deal, a significant minority will face pay cuts. Moreover, a fifth of the council workforce still do not know what their grading is. In addition, the scheme discriminates against the lowest paid, with those at the very top of the council pay system gaining a lot more.
Unison has said it intends to fight on for improvements and use the period of the ballot to build support for that.
Chris Sermanni, Glasgow City Unison branch secretary and a member of Socialist Party Scotland, said: “Unison stood firm because Glasgow’s workers deserved better than what was originally put on the table. That position has secured significant movement.”
“There’s now a path for Unison members to give their verdict without the immediate threat of dismissal and re-engagement hanging over them.”
“Thousands of workers are owed substantial and long-overdue increases and we want them to receive every penny,” he said.
“At the same time, other workers face significant losses and some still don’t even know their final outcome.”
Glasgow City Unison explained: “Whilst there’s been improvements, they are still not enough to deliver pay justice across the city. Unison will prepare for a branch-wide ballot on the pay and grading proposals, which will begin later in October and run for approximately four weeks.”
“We will use the time available to keep fighting for improvements before members make their decision. The ground we have won through this period of intense negotiations is important, but our strength in these coming weeks will come from organisation right across the city.”
“Unison members will decide whether to accept or reject the package. This campaign has already secured movement because Unison members stood together, now we need to organise across every workplace.”
Socialist Party Scotland will continue to stand with all Glasgow council workers. We will also continue to fight for a 100% anti-austerity, pro-worker city-wide election stand for the council elections next year. And for the return of the £500 million in stolen money for the setting of a needs budget for Glasgow.
