AROUND 14,000 Glasgow council workers are set to see higher payrates, while 2000 are set to see a pay cut.
The decision forms a major step towards resolving the council's long-running equal pay dispute, which has been running in different forms since 2006 when a new pay-review system was implemented.
The legal challenge against the Workforce Pay and Benefits Review system rolled out 20 years ago claims that the council favoured male-dominated occupations in paying out compensation for the scheme.
The new process was implemented to bring several manual-worker, non-teaching roles into one pay-grading system in a bid to make the process of pay reviews fairer across different jobs.
However, this meant potential cuts in pay for workers predominantly in male-dominated fields as refuse collection and gravedigging – so the council offered time-limited pay protection supplements to compensate this for three years.
However, these protections were not offered to people working in jobs dominated by women – such as carers, cleaners and caterers – prompting the equal-pay dispute which has lasted for decades as claims from affected workers piled up and the council struggled to implement an alternative system.
In 2019 the council attempted to settle the historic claims from 2006 through a wave of compensation measures funded in part by sales of city-owned property.
The council has been in negotiations with trade unions for around eight years to devise a new scheme to draw the row, which has costed the council around £770m already through compensation, to a close.
Now, a decision was made at a meeting of the council's City Administration Committee on Thursday, August 20 to implement a new pay structure.
It will create new pay arrangements for almost 24,000 non-teaching council workers, starting on April 4, 2027. This has been done by changing the number of salary bands from 11 to 12.
The council has said 63% of workers will receive an increase to pay, 11% will see a reduction, and the remaining 26% will see no change.
However, the amount lost can be severe, with the reported largest annual loss in pay being around £11,500.
The majority of staff set to lose out on pay are in the higher brackets – grade eight and above – with 54% expected to see a reduction.
9% of workers in pay grades 1-5 will see a cut.
Those who are set to receive a pay cut will not see this implemented until October 2027.
Pay increases will be backdated to October 2023. The council plans to borrow at least £100 million to cover this.
Most staff have not been informed of what category they fall into yet, with the council saying on Wednesday that this process will be carried out through face-to-face meetings in the next week.
Letters will then be sent to all staff from August 31.
Susan Aitken, who has served as leader since the SNP took control of Glasgow City Council in 2017, said: "This is what ends pay discrimination in the council.
"While the vast majority will benefit, some will lose out. It is not something that is avoidable."
She went on to say: "There are options none of us would like to take."
Outside the City Chambers members of GMB, Unison and Unite were staging a protest expressing their concerns about the proposed deal.
Chris Sermanni, Unison Glasgow branch secretary, said: “We’ve got a number of concerns, it’s not just one single thing, they’re wide-ranging.
“At the root cause of it all there isn’t enough money for the pay bill. Unison is against the phased implementation approach. That means one in five council workers won’t transfer over to the new pay and grading system.
“The arrangements for pay protection are wholly inadequate. The arrears calculation that the council is proposing seeks to shortchange several thousand low paid women who fought valiantly for equal pay for all these years.”
The proposal was voted through by SNP and Green councillors on the committee by 13 votes to the 9 Labour against, and one Conservative abstained.
The Green amendment accepted by the SNP included further steps must be taken to support workers facing detriment.
The group said it is in the best interests of all concerned to reach collective agreement and calls on all parties to commit fully to achieving this goal and stated the new system does not solve ongoing workforce pressures and concerns around issues such as low pay and high sickness levels.
Labour had been critical of many points of the proposal including the option to fire and rehire staff if necessary.
They were also concerned that the proposal is not fully complete with around 20% of roles still to be evaluated and that the council would be left to foot another huge bill.
Rashid Hussain Labour group leader, said: “We are bitterly disappointed that the SNP and Greens have chosen to force through an incomplete proposal while serious concerns from Glasgow’s workforce and their trade unions remain unresolved.
“Today they had the opportunity to put workers first. Instead, the SNP and Greens voted down Glasgow Labour’s attempt to rule out fire and rehire and rejected our call to bring in ACAS to help secure agreement with the trade unions.
