More than 20,000 Glasgow City Council employees are set to be dismissed and rehired under new contracts after negotiations between the local authority and trade unions broke down over a long-running equal pay dispute.

The council said all of its non-teaching staff, around 23,000 workers, will be dismissed and then re-engaged under new employment contracts. Details of the changes are expected to be sent to affected employees next week.

The changes are scheduled to take effect on New Year’s Day, following the collapse of talks involving the GMB, Unite and Unison.

Glasgow City Council said GMB and Unite had agreed to ballot their members on a proposed deal that would have provided additional funding for back pay and removed the possibility of dismissals. However, the council said Unison later withdrew its support for the proposal.

A Unison representative disputed the council’s account and accused the local authority of making misleading and false claims about the union’s role in the dispute.

Colin Edgar, a council spokesman, described the situation as extremely difficult and said the authority had been close to reaching an agreement with the unions. He argued that the council’s existing discriminatory pay and grading structure needed to be replaced.

Edgar said there were two possible ways to change the system: through a collective agreement with the unions or through a dismissal and re-engagement process.

He said the council had put additional money into its latest offer and urged the unions to present the proposal to their members.

Edgar also told Sky News that all affected employees would be re-engaged. He said their continuity of service and pensions would not be affected, although their employment contracts would change at midnight on December 31.

The council acknowledged that some employees could eventually see significant reductions in their pay, with one group facing a potential loss of almost £11,000.

Edgar said there would be 18 months before the pay changes took effect, along with a year of pay protection previously negotiated with the trade unions.

He said the council would use that period to consider options for workers facing reductions, including redesigning jobs, moving employees into different roles or considering early retirement.

Unison’s Glasgow education convener, Sylvia Haughney, rejected the council’s explanation and said the decision to pursue dismissal and rehire was the authority’s choice.

Haughney described the proposed approach as “utterly immoral” and “shockingly deplorable,” arguing that many of the employees facing pay cuts were women.

She also said the union believed the offer did not adequately address the financial impact on affected workers and that Unison would not put the proposal to its members unless the council made a better offer.

Haughney said Unison remained willing to return to negotiations with the council and would consider holding a ballot if an improved proposal was presented.

The dispute centers on Glasgow City Council’s efforts to replace its existing pay and grading system while resolving the long-running equal pay dispute with its workforce.

SOURCE: Sky News, updated September 25, 2026.