Glasgow council to rehire 23,000 staff on revised terms after talks fail
Glasgow City Council is proceeding with one of the UK's largest fire-and-rehire schemes affecting nearly 23,000 non-teaching staff after union negotiations collapsed this week. The council plans to sack and rehire workers under less favourable terms to implement a new pay and grading system designed to resolve longstanding pay equality issues. This matters because it represents a significant test of a controversial employment practice that the Scottish government has already opposed.
The Unison union refused to ballot its members on an offer that would result in pay cuts for 11% of affected workers, prompting the council to issue fire-and-rehire letters. Negotiations have repeatedly broken down and restarted over the past week, with the Scottish government's deputy first minister chairing emergency mediation talks on Friday. The timing is controversial: the required 12-week notice period expires just before the practice becomes illegal UK-wide in January 2027, whilst the council still owes £500 million from a 2019 equal pay settlement with 8,000 mostly female workers who had suffered discrimination from previous pay structures.
- Glasgow council seeks to sack and rehire 23,000 staff over pay restructuring
- 11% would face pay cuts; Unison refusing to accept the proposal
- Move's timing exploits deadline before fire-and-rehire becomes illegal in January
New here? Start with this
A fire-and-rehire scheme is when an employer dismisses staff and offers them new contracts with less favourable terms. Glasgow City Council is using this method to change the pay and grading system for nearly 23,000 non-teaching workers, such as cleaners, administrators and maintenance staff. The council says this is necessary to resolve longstanding pay equality issues within its workforce.
The council has faced major employment disputes. In 2019, it settled an equal pay case costing £500 million with 8,000 mostly female workers who had suffered discrimination under the previous pay system. The new structure the council proposes would still mean pay cuts for 11% of the 23,000 workers affected by the fire-and-rehire scheme.
The Unison union, which represents many of these workers, refused to support the plan and would not let members vote on the latest offer. The Scottish government has also opposed the scheme, with its deputy first minister attempting emergency negotiations this week. The timing is significant because fire-and-rehire will become illegal across the UK in January 2027, and the council must issue dismissal notices within weeks to complete the process before the deadline.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Glasgow City Council faces a genuine structural problem: a previous pay system that discriminated against mostly female workers has cost it £500 million in back-pay, and the current arrangements perpetuate inequality. The council argues a comprehensive restructuring through new grading is necessary to achieve pay equity and financial sustainability; without it, the council cannot resolve the systemic unfairness or manage its substantial liabilities. The revised terms, though difficult for some workers, represent a necessary recalibration to create a fairer system.
The case against
Fire-and-rehire is a coercive practice fundamentally at odds with fair employment relations, and unions argue it is particularly unconscionable here given the council's own history of pay discrimination. Forcing workers to accept worse conditions through dismissal threats—with 11% facing actual pay cuts—punishes employees for systemic failures they did not create. The council's rush to implement this before the practice becomes illegal in January 2027 suggests awareness of its injustice, and workers argue they should not be asked to sacrifice so the council can manage consequences of its own past wrongdoing.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “Glasgow council workers face pay cuts in fire-and-rehire plan after union talks break down”.