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A three-day strike over potential pay cuts to Glasgow Council care staff was averted last week thanks to an 11th-hour deal between the authority and unions.

Just three days before the council-wide action was due to begin, the authority agreed to extend salary protection for staff due to lose money following a job evaluation exercise.

Under the exercise, most social work staff gained money, but some, including residential child care workers and the most experienced para-professionals, could have lost thousands of pounds annually if they had failed to move to a higher-level post by March 2009. But last week the council dropped the deadline.

Ronnie Stevenson, social work convenor for Unison Glasgow, said: “The fundamental issue was always about protection for workers. The extension of the protection arrangement beyond 2009 where it has not been possible to implement the individual development plan or service redesign has not taken place is a victory for us.”

The council said it was the “intention” to have career development plans in place for all staff who were likely to lose out, but these could be completed beyond March 2009 where it has not been possible to complete them before.