Glasgow halts mass fire-and-rehire plan — but pay fight is not over

Glasgow City Council has paused its plan to dismiss and rehire more than 23,000 non-teaching workers after talks with unions and the Scottish Government, but the threat remains live.

The council said on Friday that it had agreed to pause the process so an ACAS-brokered package could be reconsidered. Further negotiations with GMB, Unite and Unison are due to resume next week.¹

• The affected workforce is described publicly as more than 23,000 people, while union material refers to about 24,000 non-teaching staff.²
• The pause has no published end date and does not amount to an agreement on pay, grading or employment contracts.¹
• The council had said workers would receive notice ending their existing contracts, with new arrangements due to begin in 2027.³
• The dispute concerns a new pay structure intended to end a scheme found to discriminate against women, but thousands of workers face financial detriment under the replacement system.⁴
• The services at risk include council workforces such as cleansing and home care, where unions have already warned of serious consequences if negotiations fail.²

The council’s own statement on Thursday said letters would be sent to every non-teaching employee, including senior managers, and that existing pay arrangements had to be ended to replace the discriminatory system lawfully. It said workers would retain continuity of service and that the council intended to re-employ them.³

That process now appears to have been stopped before the threatened letters were sent, although neither the council nor the unions has published a clear account of whether any notices have already gone out. The council has also not said how long the pause will last.

The immediate gain is time. The underlying conflict is unchanged: the council wants to implement a new structure from April 2027, while unions object to pay losses, unresolved job evaluations and the use of dismissal and re-engagement to force through new terms. The council says more than 18,200 workers would receive pay increases, but GMB says 2,600 face salary reductions.⁴

If talks collapse again, the dispute will reach workers who provide everyday services rather than remain an argument confined to City Chambers. GMB has specifically identified cleansing and home-care staff among those affected. The Scottish Government has urged the council and unions to return to negotiations, but Justice Secretary Neil Gray has stopped short of offering funding or intervening directly.⁵

Footnotes

1. Sky News, “Glasgow City Council 'pauses' plan to fire and rehire more than 23,000 workers”, 25 September 2026 ↩ ↩²

2. GMB Scotland, “GMB calls for new funding to secure fair pay for council workers”, 20 August 2026 ↩ ↩²

3. Glasgow Life, “Update on Glasgow City Council's Equal Pay Programme”, 24 September 2026 ↩ ↩²

4. Glasgow Life, “Update from the Glasgow City Council Chief Executive on new Pay and Grading Structure”, 17 August 2026 ↩ ↩²

5. STV News, “Both sides must ‘get around table’ in Glasgow fire and rehire dispute – minister”, 25 September 2026 ↩