City council to fire and rehire thousands of staff, tell me about this news in (https://news.sky.com/video/share-13591820)

This news concerns Glasgow City Council, Scotland’s largest local authority, which announced plans to dismiss and rehire between 23,000 and 25,000 non-teaching staff following a breakdown in negotiations with trade unions.

Key details of the situation:

The council is attempting to implement a new pay and grading structure aimed at resolving a long-standing equal pay dispute that has spanned over two decades and cost hundreds of millions of pounds. Under the proposed system, the council states that around 90% of employees would receive either a pay increase or see their wages stay the same. However, approximately 11% of the workforce would face wage reductions, in some cases amounting to cuts of several thousand pounds per year.

Negotiations collapsed after trade union Unison declined to ballot its members on the latest revised pay offer. Because agreement was not reached across all unions, the council decided to proceed with “fire and rehire” measures, issuing notices of dismissal alongside new contracts reflecting the revised terms, intended to take effect at the start of January.

The announcement sparked immediate backlash from major trade unions, including Unison, GMB, and Unite. Union representatives condemned the approach as deplorable and immoral, arguing that it penalizes workersparticularly women in frontline and lower-paid rolesand warned of formal industrial disputes and potential strike action if the council forces through the new contracts. Council leadership stated that formal dismissal notices could be paused if unions agree to put the enhanced offer to a member vote.