Glasgow City Council has struck an agreement with Unison, its largest union, in the long-running dispute over a new pay and grading structure. The deal means the council will no longer consider dismissing and re-engaging more than 23,000 employees to push the changes through. Unison members are expected to vote on the package later this month.
The new structure is designed to fix the problems behind thousands of equal pay claims from current and former female staff. Under the original proposal, 11% of the employees assessed so far faced wage cuts. Their salaries will now be protected for three years, and the council has agreed to keep talking to Unison about lower-paid workers, allowances, jobs that have not yet been evaluated, equality impacts and how the new pay model will operate.
Council leader Ricky Bell called it a “strong and fair deal” and confirmed that the GMB and Unite had also agreed to put the proposals to their members. He said extra support from the Scottish Government had helped secure the agreement, but made clear that no further money would be added to the package. Deputy First Minister Jenny Gilruth joined the negotiations after earlier talks between Unison and the council collapsed.
Unison has not endorsed the package. Glasgow branch secretary Chris Sermanni said the union’s position had won “significant movement”, but he stressed that the campaign for improvements would go on, with some workers owed substantial back pay and others facing losses or still waiting to learn their final outcome. GMB organiser David Hume said the proposals came after seven years of negotiation and pointed to new financial support from the council, including £110m to cover additional back pay.
The timetable for the four-week ballot will be confirmed shortly. All three main council unions are now prepared to let their members vote, something Unison had refused to do under the earlier offer. The outcome is not certain, but with the threat of fire and rehire gone, the dispute that has hung over the council workforce for years has cooled considerably.
