Union anger at Scottish Labour 'claiming ownership' of fire and rehire motion

Scottish Labour has been crticised for “chasing an easy headline” over a “a fight led by workers and their unions”.

Trade unions are angry at Scottish Labour for “trying to claim ownership” of a motion condemning Glasgow City Council’s attempt to fire and rehire more than 20,000 staff.

The party has been criticised for “chasing an easy headline” over a “a fight led by workers and their unions”. The motion will be voted on at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool on Tuesday.

New Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra mentioned the motion in his speech on Sunday, and urged party members to back it.

But a scathing union source criticised the party, saying it should instead apologise to Glasgow’s workers after it “failed thousands of women on equal pay.”

A union source said: “This is a trade union motion, not a Scottish Labour motion. They should not try to claim ownership of a fight led by workers and their unions.

“This is about backing our workers and ruling out fire and rehire — not politicians chasing an easy headline.

“Labour ran the city for decades and failed thousands of women on equal pay.

“The only word Glasgow’s workers need to hear from Scottish Labour is ‘sorry’.”

Glasgow City Council announced a pause to the fire and rehire plan on Friday following a substantial backlash and a request from SNP Deputy First Minister Jenny Gilruth.

The move, which would have impacted 23,000 staff, came after a breakdown in talks with unions over a long-running equal pay dispute.

Fire and re-hire will be made illegal as of January as a result of employment law changes brought in by the UK Government.

The emergency motion will be debated at the Labour conference in Liverpool on Tuesday.

Scottish Labour Leader Michael Marra said in comments sent out overnight: “The pause to fire and rehire is welcome, but it isn’t good enough. Glasgow City Council should never have threatened it and it must be taken off the table altogether.

“The SNP administration needs to promise not to use this threat as leverage in any negotiation. To put tens of thousands of workers in this position is unacceptable.

“I am asking UK Labour Party Conference to back the emergency motion and send the clearest possible message that the Labour movement will never accept threats to working people.”

Scottish Labour was approached for comment.