A leading union that represents council workers has accused West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) of threatening to “fire and rehire” workers in a row over public holidays.
GMB Scotland warned that the local authority is risking crucial funding by threatening workers employment rights and even accused the council of “bullying staff” after allegedly threatening to redraw contracts if workers do not agree to fewer public holidays.
The union says that the council is attempting to save cash by adding public holidays to annual leave, but the GMB is warning that frontline workers – particularly those in social care – have most to lose if special rates of pay are removed for working on some public holidays.
From April, councils and unions must agree Fair Work First rules are in place before some Scottish Government funding is released.
Fair Work First is the Scottish Government’s policy for driving high quality and fair work across the labour market by applying fair work criteria to grants, other funding, and contracts being awarded by and across the public sector.
The GMB has now written to WDC warning the union’s endorsement will be withdrawn unless the threat of enforced changes to contracts is lifted.
WDC has said that it is “committed to advancing” Fair Work First and “ensuring equality for our male and female employees by addressing a historical difference in public holiday entitlement”.
GMB Scotland senior organiser in public services, Keir Greenaway, said the council’s threat to change workers’ terms and conditions without agreement is “beyond the pale”.
He urged councillors to withdraw the threat of “fire and rehire” and warned it could risk millions of pounds in public funding by breaching employment guidelines.
Mr Greenaway said: “It beggars belief that any local authority would consider imposing new terms and conditions without the agreement of workers.
“We engaged with officers on these proposals but our members overwhelmingly rejected them because they would lose the extra pay earned when volunteering to work on public holidays and the assurance that these holidays were fixed in the calendar.
“This will impact on frontline workers most of all, many of them women, many of them working in lifeline roles in our communities.
“The council has ignored those clear and understandable concerns and is simply threatening to impose those changes without agreement. It cannot stand.”
Mr Greenaway added: “Labour councillors in particular need to take a breath and ask themselves why they are driving ahead with a fire and rehire tactic that their own MPs are about to outlaw because it is so popular with the most unscrupulous private sector companies.”
In a letter to Labour council leader Martin Rooney, Mr Greenaway said GMB Scotland will formally withdraw endorsement of WDC as a Fair Work First employer next week unless a resolution can be found.
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He added: “If the threat of fire and rehire is not revoked by next week, we ask that WDC removes our endorsement from the Fair Work statement on your website and current and future grant applications for public funding.
“Fire and rehire is never justified. As council Leader, you must state explicitly and without ambiguity that under your leadership, fire and rehire will never be used against the workforce.
“Only once this commitment is made will GMB Scotland be in a position to endorse WDC’s compliance with Fair Work conditions.”
In response, a council spokesperson insisted that the authority is “committed to advancing Fair Work First” in a bid to address historical equality issues between male and female staff over a discrepancy in public holiday entitlement.
They added: “We are confident our approach is consistent with these principles and in addition, it ensures the council can more effectively meet the needs of residents while offering employees greater flexibility with holiday arrangements.
“As part of our collective bargaining arrangements, we have made every effort to reach an agreement with our trade unions, with consultation ongoing since December 2022. Regrettably, this approach was exhausted without resolution.
“We advised trade unions last month of our plans to contact employees directly to seek their acceptance of the new terms, it is therefore disappointing that the GMB are suggesting otherwise at this late stage.”