More than 700 Aberdeen City Council workers could strike over ‘fire and rehire’ proposals, say Unite

More than 700 council workers could go on strike over ‘fire and rehire’ proposals lodged by Aberdeen City Council.

Unite the Union notified Aberdeen City Council on Friday of a members ballot on industrial action amid a row over contract changes.

The council has proposed a pay freeze after cutting the working week from 37 to 35 hours a week and would essentially impose new contracts on staff.

If enacted, the plans would cut workers’ wages by up to 104 hours per year, impacting over 3,000 workers across administrative, waste, library, janitorial, craft, social work, and housing roles at Aberdeen City Council.

Unite have warned that widespread industrial action would lead to a significant reduction in provision for some of the city’s most vital services.

“Aberdeen council’s incendiary fire and rehire plans are disgraceful and must immediately be taken off the table,” Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said.

“It is a callous attempt to demolish pay and conditions for some of the lowest paid workers in Aberdeen. Unite will resist this with every single tool at our disposal including extensive industrial action if necessary.”

Unite has also accused the Scottish Government of “ignoring” the escalating dispute between Aberdeen Council and its employees.

Union bosses are claiming the council’s proposals are a breach of the Fair Work First agreement which the Scottish Government requires councils sign in order to receive millions in grants funding.

They said any threats to impose new contracts on workers would also be “severely restricted” in the upcoming Employment Rights Bill at Westminster.

“The fire and rehire plans by Aberdeen council need to be ditched or strike action will lead to services grinding to a halt. If that happens, the blame will lie exclusively with councillors and council officials,” Vic Fraser, Unite industrial officer, said.

“The use of fire and rehire breaches the fair work principles. The Scottish Government must intervene and clearly tell Aberdeen council to withdraw the proposal or face sanctions.”

Mr Fraser said the failure by government ministers to act is “evidence that they are simply trying to ignore this issue”.

However, a spokesperson for Aberdeen City Council said: “Dismissal and re-engagement has not been suggested by the Council during any consultation, engagement or discussions that have been taking place.”

They said that fire and rehire is “one possible lawful route” to implement contractual changes, the council said it would not consider it without exhausting all other possible routes.

“Constructive discussions are continuing with Trade Unions, through ongoing formal consultation meetings, where our desired outcome is to reach agreement,” the spokesperson said.

“The goal is to reach an agreement through this consultation process with employees and trade unions, whose feedback has already improved and amended the original proposal.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said it has been “consistently clear that it opposes fire and rehire practices”.

“We encourage continued consultation and meaningful dialogue between Aberdeen City Council, workers and their trade unions on this matter to reach a resolution,” the spokesperson said.

The Unite the Union ballot opens on Friday March 28 and closes on April 14.

GMB Scotland members are also voting on potential industrial action to halt the threat of “fire and rehire”.