05/10/2026
Pay and Grading update: Improvements secured to package, but more needs to be done. UNISON will ballot members in October
Following intensive negotiations with Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Government, UNISON have secured improvements to the council’s pay & grading proposals including 3 years pay protection. We would like to acknowledge the crucial intervention of the Scottish Government in helping to secure this. Our branch position has been that the council should fight for proper funding from both Holyrood and Westminster governments. Glasgow needs more funding
We welcome the improvements that have been tabled and believe that the package as it is now gives more assurance to workers in detriment that they will not be facing a financial cliff edge in one year’s time.
However, more needs to be done to deliver pay justice in the city. We will now begin preparations to ballot members on the overall package this month.
What have we secured?
Following Scottish Government intervention, forced by UNISON over the previous week, pay protection has increased from one to three years for workers facing losses. This is up from the initial proposal of 6 months, and would not have been won without our principled position.
There are also commitments to prioritise work on jobs facing detriment, including role redesign to mitigate this. Most crucially, the proposed route allows UNISON to ballot our members without the Council controlling what we recommend or what we say to you.
The council has agreed not to issue fire and rehire notices in 2026 while we fight for improvements and ballot our members. Again, it’s the strength of our union which has forced this concession. We know that this anti-worker threat being removed will provide much needed relief for workers across the city and we were right to hold firm.
However, the fight isn’t over, and there are still significant issues that UNISON wants resolved. We will continue pressing for additional investment, particularly for lower-paid workers facing losses, alongside further improvements on allowances and detriment. We also need clear protection for workers whose jobs have still not been evaluated. Those workers need to know when their evaluations will happen, what their outcome is and how pay protection will apply to them
What happens now?
Whilst there’s been improvements, they are still not enough to deliver pay justice across the city. The next stage is over to you, the members, to decide. UNISON will prepare for a branch-wide ballot on the pay & grading proposals, which will begin later in October and run for approximately four weeks. Before and during that process we will be holding workplace meetings and drop-ins, providing detailed information and talking directly to members across Glasgow. At the same time, the council has committed to further negotiations before we ballot, and we will hold them to account on our outstanding issues. We will use the time available to keep fighting for improvements before members make their decision. The ground we have won through this period of intense negotiations is important, but our strength in these coming weeks will come from organisation right across the city.
Once that work is complete, members will be given clear information about what has been secured, what remains unresolved and the branch's recommendation. Then UNISON members will decide whether to accept or reject the package. This campaign has already secured movement because UNISON members stood together, now we need to organise across every workplace.
Stay informed, talked to your colleagues, make sure your membership and contact details are up to date, get everyone who isn’t in a union to join UNISON, and let’s get organised.
In solidarity
UNISON Glasgow City Branch
