THE bitter strike by IT workers at Scotland's biggest council over moves to privatise the service has been called off after a deal was struck over terms and conditions.

Members of public sector union Unison voted this afternoon to halt the action after almost two months of targeted strikes.

They voted 160 to 25 to return to work on Monday.

Glasgow City Council has met the majority of Unison demands over safeguarding the status of sections of the workforce should, as expected, a major multi-national take on a seven-year deal to run the municipal IT.

Council leader had previously said he would offer personal assurances terms and conditions would be preserved.

IT within the wider city council is provided by an operation called Access, a joint venture between the authority and services giant Serco.

Montreal-based CGI, which runs Edinburgh and Borders Council IT, as well as several Scottish Government contracts, is the front runner to take it over.

Although unhappy with the move, unions are legally prevented from taking action on political causes such as privatisation and can only strike on staff-related issues.

The decision is likely to see a raft of other Scottish councils and public sector bodies taking on the firm, such as the nature of the deal with Edinburgh.

All Unison members took one day of strike action in November followed-up by selective strike action from December 1 by 39 members. A further 15 members joined the 'selective action' on January 17.

Unison said workers who are currently council employees would be seconded and therefore remain employees of the authority.

A spokesman said: "The previous guarantees of no compulsory redundancies and no relocation from Glasgow remain for all workers including the small number of our members directly employed by the current joint partnership venture with no linkage to the council.

"The deal will also see a workforce board created with senior council officers and council politicians which will govern over matters related to the workers’ jobs.

"Unison will collectively bargain directly with Glasgow City Council via this unique arrangement. The council also state that they accept the principle that any new workers recruited to the posts should be council-linked employees although the practical arrangements for this are still to be agreed."

The spokesman added: "The deal is a positive outcome for the 230 members. Unison membership has increased by 40 per cent in the past six months. Against a background of key senior council officers pushing for CGI to take over the running of the city’s IT service and a political leadership unwilling to rule it out, the Unison members should be congratulated on what they have achieved."

Cllr Frank McAveety, Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “From the very start of this we have given staff guarantees about their jobs, conditions and pensions. I am therefore pleased that staff have now recognised the value of this offer and voted to end their strike action.

“Together we can now get on with the real job of delivering a revolution in IT provision which will create the best digital offer  for the students in Glasgow schools, the people of the city seeking better access to our services, which will promote new skills and deliver new jobs.”