Tuesday August 18th 2026
Glasgow City Chambers, where councillors will vote on proposals for a new pay and grading structure for council staff
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Drew Sandelands
Glasgow’s plan to end a long-running equal pay dispute has caused concern among opposition councillors over the impact on workers “facing detriment”, as they call for Scottish Government help.
A new pay and grading structure — which would see 63% of around 24,000 non-teaching staff gain financially and 11% receive a wage cut — is set to go before councillors for approval on Thursday.
It is needed to end pay discrimination but trade unions say the proposals “fall significantly short” of providing a fair solution.
The city’s Labour group said it has “concerns about the deal… and whether they provide good terms and conditions” for employees.
It has called on the SNP administration to “work directly to the unions’ satisfaction on this vital matter” and urged the Scottish Government to “properly fund Glasgow’s workers”.
Glasgow Greens welcomed progress towards ending pay inequality but also voiced concerns over the “current proposals’ impact on the minority of workers facing detriment”.
Staff facing a wage cut would have their pay protected for six months after the implementation of the new pay structure. The Greens suggested the council should address concerns raised by the unions, such as “extending the period of pay protection”.
A spokesperson for the SNP group said it continues to “engage with our trade union colleagues on mitigating the impact” for the workers who are set to lose out.
Trade unions — UNISON, GMB and Unite — will protest at the city chambers ahead of Thursday’s meeting, demanding councillors vote against the proposals.
Agreements were reached in 2019 and 2022 on pay claims with thousands of mainly female workers who have been paid less than men in equivalent roles. Compensation payments totalling around £770m have been made. But a new pay and grading structure is required to end pay discrimination.
Around 80% of staff have had their roles evaluated and would move onto the proposed structure in April. The remaining workers would transition as the evaluation process continues.
The spokesperson for Glasgow Labour said the group has “concerns about the deal for workers on the table… and whether they provide good terms and conditions for Glasgow City Council’s employees who work tirelessly on behalf of our citizens”.
They added: “Our workforce, and our women workers in particular, need absolute clarity on how these proposals will impact their pay, their roles and their futures.
“Glasgow Labour is calling on the SNP administration to work directly to the unions’ satisfaction on this vital matter, and calling on the Scottish Government to put its money where its mouth is and properly fund Glasgow’s workers and this proposal.
“We will consider our options, discuss further with the joint trade unions, and welcome approaches from other political groupings.”
In a statement, the Green group’s new co-leaders, Anthony Carroll and Lana Reid-McConnell, said: “It’s important that we reach a solution as soon as possible and ensure that those who have been underpaid and faced discrimination for so long receive the salary increase and backpay that they are owed.
“It’s positive to see that the vast majority of the workforce either benefit financially from this new system or see no changes to their circumstances.
“However, we are concerned by the current proposals’ impact on the minority of workers facing detriment. Greens are seeking further immediate clarification on how the council can support those people and lessen the impact on them, especially those with proportionally higher levels of loss.”
They added the council needs good industrial relations and extending the period of pay protection “could be a step in the right direction of ensuring that we have such relations”.
The Greens say it is “important that every step is taken to reach collective agreement” and that the Scottish Government provides “the right financial support needed to address this historic wrong and ensure well-resourced public services that Glaswegians depend on”.
Unions also want the Scottish Government to step in and provide funding to the council.
An SNP spokesperson said the proposals are the “culmination of years of complex negotiations with trades unions following this SNP administration’s commitment to overturning decades of Labour’s gender pay discrimination in our city”.
They added: “We also have a responsibility to all Glaswegians to ensure that public services are delivered and public finances are managed in a sustainable way. We believe that this offer strikes the very difficult balance that we all have a duty to deliver on.
“We are very conscious that although this is good news for the vast majority of our workforce, for some it will be difficult and we continue to engage with our trade union colleagues on mitigating the impact for these workers.”
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