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

Talks between the council and the GMB, Unison and Unite unions fell apart on Wednesday when Unison said it would not ballot its members on a proposed new pay offer.

The council said its new proposals would protect workers set to lose out for an extra six months, and it accused Unison of “betraying” members by not giving them the chance to vote on it.

In response, Unison’s education convener Sylvia Haughey told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast the council was using “bullying tactics”.

She said: “We haven’t betrayed anyone, we certainly haven’t betrayed our members. We are out fighting for our members.

“We are fighting for the members who are… losing big financial amounts, whether its £200 or £12,000.

“We have not walked away from anything. We are willing to speak to the council at any time.”

Glasgow City Council’s communications director, Colin Edgar, said it was a “hellish situation” that “almost no one” wanted to be in.

He told BBC Scotland News: “Our staff are going to be distressed, they’re going to be anxious.

“I can reassure them that when their contracts end and restart the next day there will be no break in their continuity of service. They will all be rehired.”

He said the council does not want to be in this situation, but it is a consequence of fixing an unlawful pay scheme.

“Whenever any council does this exercise, there are people who gain and people who lose – in our case that’s about 11% of people who will earn less,” he said.

Edgar added that the two other unions are on board with the changes.