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

Glasgow City Council has agreed to intermission plans to occurrence and rehire much than 23,000 members of staff.

The determination follows online talks betwixt the assembly and 3 commercialized unions, chaired by Deputy First Minister Jenny Gilruth.

Negotiations betwixt the assembly and the GMB, Unison and Unite unions volition resume aboriginal adjacent week to effort to scope a caller woody connected pay.

Letters which had been owed to beryllium sent to unit informing them of the occurrence and rehire plans volition not beryllium issued.

The SNP-led assembly had threatened to sack thousands of members of staff and past rehire them connected caller contracts aft negotiations with unions implicit adjacent wage proposals broke down.

The talks were astir the council's plans to regenerate a wage strategy recovered to discriminate against mostly women workers. The changes would spot the bulk of unit unaffected oregon amended off, but they would chopped wage for 11% of staff.

Gilruth said the Scottish authorities did not enactment occurrence and rehire schemes and had urged the assembly and commercialized unions to get backmost astir the negotiating table.

She said: "Given the value of this concern and the interaction connected staff, I wanted to bring each parties unneurotic to marque wide that I expect negotiations betwixt the assembly and unions to proceed truthful that a corporate statement tin beryllium reached and bring an extremity to discriminatory wage practices.

"My anticipation is that each parties enactment successful enactment with the principles of just enactment and proceed to exhaust each avenues for corporate agreement."

On behalf of unions Unite, Unison and GMB, the Scottish Trades Unions Congress said: "We are pleased astatine the lifting of the menace of occurrence and rehire and that meaningful negotiations volition instrumentality spot adjacent week.

"We besides invited the Scottish government's wide connection that the signifier of occurrence and rehire' does not align with the principles and expected signifier of just work."

GMB organiser David Hume said the assembly had initially made the incorrect determination - but welcomed its willingness to reappraisal and reverse it.

"After 7 years of hard negotiations, we judge the caller operation is acceptable to beryllium enactment earlier our members. They should present beryllium allowed to determine and that should beryllium done arsenic a substance of urgency," helium said.

One Glasgow City Council idiosyncratic had earlier described the concern arsenic "heartbreaking".

Joanne, a enactment for learning idiosyncratic from Glasgow, said the section authorization "had a feature to accidental they attraction astir their employees" aft she work the council's connection saying it was dismissing each staff.

She was told 2 weeks agone that she would beryllium 1 of the workers facing a wage chopped nether the caller system, leaving her "distraught". She volition suffer astir £300 per year.

She said: "I came distant from my enactment crying - really, truly upset. I couldn't judge that aft 25 years' work to Glasgow City Council, I americium getting fto down yet again."

She continued: "I americium moving with the astir susceptible children successful society. I would enactment it to Glasgow City Council: delight travel and bash my occupation for 1 time - 1 time only.

"It is truthful wrong, and I can't spend to suffer money."

At a gathering past month, the assembly agreed to an overhaul of its wage and grading operation aft 8 years of negotiations.

The council has antecedently paid implicit £770m to 19,000 claimants aft it emerged that pistillate workers successful roles specified arsenic catering oregon cleaning were paid little than those successful male-dominated areas specified arsenic garbage collection.

The caller strategy would spot 63% of those affected summation financially, portion 11% would person their wages reduced.

It was calculated aft a occupation valuation programme looked astatine each relation wrong the section authority.

This saw unit being fixed questionnaires to capable out, and successful immoderate cases interviewed astir their job.

Each valuation was based astir 13 antithetic factors. Categories included carnal effort, intelligence skills, attraction and carnal co-ordination.

The occupation valuation past provided a people for each relation wrong the council, with those scores utilized to found which wage people - retired of a imaginable 12 - each occupation should beryllium in.

However, this has resulted successful immoderate roles being moved onto little salaries than they were antecedently on, with the highest driblet successful wages expected to beryllium astir £11,500.

The assembly had said connected Thursday that each subordinate of non-teaching unit would beryllium issued with a missive of dismissal, including main enforcement Susanne Millar, nursery unit and garbage collectors. They would past beryllium offered caller contracts, acceptable to statesman connected 1 January.

Changes to UK-wide employment instrumentality volition travel successful effect connected the aforesaid date.

These changes volition marque dismissing an worker for refusing to judge declaration changes automatically an unfair dismissal.

Talks betwixt the assembly and the GMB, Unison and Unite unions fell isolated connected Wednesday erstwhile Unison said it would not ballot its members connected a projected caller wage offer.

The assembly accused Unison of "betraying" members by not giving them the accidental to ballot connected it, but the union's acquisition convener Sylvia Haughey accused the assembly of utilizing "bullying tactics".

She told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast: "We haven't betrayed anyone, we surely haven't betrayed our members. We are retired warring for our members.

"We are warring for the members who are... losing large fiscal amounts, whether its £200 oregon £12,000.

"We person not walked distant from anything. We are consenting to talk to the assembly astatine immoderate time."

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

He acknowledged that unit would consciousness distressed and anxious, but promised that each those affected would beryllium rehired without a interruption successful their continuity of service.

Edgar said the assembly did not privation to beryllium successful this situation, but it was a effect of fixing an unlawful wage scheme.

“Whenever immoderate assembly does this exercise, determination are radical who summation and radical who suffer - successful our lawsuit that’s astir 11% of radical who volition gain less,” helium said.

Both the GMB and Unite unions were successful favour of balloting their members implicit the projected wage structure, and said they had secured an other £110m to beryllium added into the wage structure.

However, Unison said the other backing was for "assimilation and arrears", and would not assistance the unit facing wage cuts.

It said the upcoming discussions indispensable beryllium "underpinned by accrued funding".

The GMB and Unite unions had some criticised the archetypal determination to spell up with occurrence and re-hire, with Unite calling it a "scandalous threat".

The UK government's Scottish Secretary, Douglas Alexander, said had called for the council's readers to "get backmost astir the table" and find a amended mode forward.