Glasgow City Council has agreed to pause its plans to fire and rehire more than 23,000 members of staff.

The decision followed an online meeting between the local authority and three trade unions, chaired by Deputy First Minister Jenny Gilruth. Letters that were due to be issued to staff informing them of the fire-and-rehire process will now not be sent.

Negotiations between the council and the GMB, Unison, and Unite unions are scheduled to restart early next week in an effort to reach a new collective agreement on pay.

The SNP-led council had threatened to dismiss its non-teaching workforce and rehire them on new contracts after negotiations over equal pay proposals broke down on Wednesday, when Unison said it would not ballot its members on the offer.

Jenny Gilruth stepped in, making it clear that the Scottish government does not support fire-and-rehire practices. She said: "Given the significance of this situation and the impact on staff, I wanted to bring all parties together to make clear that I expect negotiations between the council and unions to continue so that a collective agreement can be reached and bring an end to discriminatory pay practices. My expectation is that all parties act in line with the principles of fair work and continue to exhaust all avenues for collective agreement."

The Scottish Trades Unions Congress, speaking on behalf of Unite, Unison, and GMB, welcomed the move, stating they were pleased the threat had been lifted and that meaningful discussions would resume next week. GMB organiser David Hume said the council had initially made the wrong call but welcomed its willingness to review and reverse the decision, adding that after seven years of hard negotiations, the structure was ready to be put before union members to decide as a matter of urgency.

To understand how the dispute reached this point, we have to look back at the council's long-running equal pay row. The local authority has previously paid out more than £770m to 19,000 claimants after it emerged that female workers in roles like catering and cleaning were paid less than those in male-dominated jobs such as refuse collection.

Last month, the council agreed to an overhaul of its pay and grading structure to eliminate pay discrimination. A job evaluation programme assessed every post against 13 separate factors, including physical effort, mental skills, concentration, and physical co-ordination, assigning each role a score to place it into one of 12 pay grades.

Under that new system, 63% of affected workers would gain financially, and the majority would be unaffected or better off. However, 11% of staff would see their pay reduced, with the steepest drops reaching up to around £11,500 a year.

The council had warned that every member of non-teaching staff—from chief executive Susanne Millar to nursery staff and refuse collectors—would receive a dismissal notice before being offered new contracts starting on 1 January. That date is critical, as incoming changes to UK-wide employment law will make dismissing staff for refusing contract changes automatically an unfair dismissal.

For staff on the ground, the dispute has been painful. Joanne, a support for learning worker in Glasgow who was told she faces an annual pay cut of around £300, said the council "had a cheek to say they care about their employees." She added: "I am working with the most vulnerable children in society. I would put it to Glasgow City Council: please come and do my job for one day - one day only."

What remains unclear is whether the renewed talks will bridge the divide over the staff facing reduced wages, or whether the unions will agree to put a revised offer to a ballot.

I'll be following the negotiations closely as they resume early next week — check back for updates.