diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-base-image.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-base-image.yml
index f2143b10..d23ff8ee 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-base-image.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-base-image.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@ name: CI - Build base image
 
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      version:
+        description: 'Version tag for base image (e.g., v1.0.0, latest)'
+        required: true
+        default: 'latest'
 
 jobs:
   build-base:
@@ -20,8 +25,17 @@ jobs:
           docker build . \
             --file docker/Dockerfile \
             --target emfos-base \
-            -t ${{ vars.DOCKER_USERNAME }}/emfos-base:latest
-          docker push ${{ vars.DOCKER_USERNAME}}/emfos-base:latest
+            -t ${{ vars.DOCKER_USERNAME }}/emfos-base:${{ github.event.inputs.version }}
+          docker push ${{ vars.DOCKER_USERNAME }}/emfos-base:${{ github.event.inputs.version }}
+
+      - name: Conditionally push as latest
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          if [[ "${{ github.event.inputs.version }}" == v* ]]; then
+            docker tag ${{ vars.DOCKER_USERNAME }}/emfos-base:${{ github.event.inputs.version }} \
+                      ${{ vars.DOCKER_USERNAME }}/emfos-base:latest
+            docker push ${{ vars.DOCKER_USERNAME }}/emfos-base:latest
+          fi
 
       - name: Display Success Message
-        run: echo "emfos-base image has been built and pushed manually."
+        run: echo "emfos-base:${{ github.event.inputs.version }} image has been built and pushed manually."
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-workers.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-workers.yml
index de320ae0..6c789bf8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-workers.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-workers.yml
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ on:
       version:
         description: 'Version tag for the release (e.g., v1.0.0)'
         required: true
+      base_image_tag:
+        description: 'Base image tag to use (e.g., latest, v1.0.0)'
+        required: true
+        default: 'latest'
 
 jobs:
   build_workers:
@@ -41,6 +45,7 @@ jobs:
           # echo "IMAGE_TAG=$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S)"        >> $GITHUB_ENV
           echo "IMAGE_NAME=${{ vars.DOCKER_USERNAME }}/${{ matrix.worker }}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
           echo "LATEST_TAG=latest"                      >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          echo "BASE_IMAGE_TAG=${{ github.event.inputs.base_image_tag || 'latest' }}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
       - name: Compute IMAGE_TAG
         id: meta
@@ -58,33 +63,26 @@ jobs:
           fi
 
           echo "IMAGE_TAG=$TAG" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
-          echo "Computed IMAGE_TAG=$TAG"
+          echo "Computed IMAGE_TAG=$TAG with base image tag=${{ env.BASE_IMAGE_TAG }}"
 
-      - name: Pull base image or fallback to build
-        run: |
-          docker pull ${{ vars.DOCKER_USERNAME }}/emfos-base:latest || \
-          docker build . \
-            --file docker/Dockerfile \
-            --target emfos-base \
-            -t ${{ vars.DOCKER_USERNAME }}/emfos-base:main
+      - name: Log in to Docker Hub
+        uses: docker/login-action@v2
+        with:
+          username: ${{ vars.DOCKER_USERNAME }}
+          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_PASSWORD }}
 
-      - name: Build worker image
+      - name: Build worker image with specified base image
         run: |
           docker build . \
             --file docker/Dockerfile \
             --target ${{ env.WORKER_NAME }} \
+            --build-arg BASE_IMAGE=${{ vars.DOCKER_USERNAME }}/emfos-base:${{ env.BASE_IMAGE_TAG }} \
             -t ${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}:${{ env.IMAGE_TAG }}
 
       - name: Tag image as latest
         run: |
           docker tag ${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}:${{ env.IMAGE_TAG }} ${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}:${{ env.LATEST_TAG }}
 
-      - name: Log in to Docker Hub
-        uses: docker/login-action@v2
-        with:
-          username: ${{ vars.DOCKER_USERNAME }}
-          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_PASSWORD }}
-
       - name: Push versioned image
         run: |
           docker push ${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}:${{ env.IMAGE_TAG }}
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
index 470b11a2..2797f3f3 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# Global argument for base image for workers, can be overridden when building with --build-arg
+ARG BASE_IMAGE=balticrcc/emfos-base:latest
+
 # Define base container image (platform has to be defined if using with ARM64 architecture)
 FROM python:3.11-slim as emfos-base
 #FROM --platform=linux/amd64 python:3.11-slim as emfos-base
@@ -23,7 +26,7 @@ COPY licenses/ /licenses/
 # Set to use interpreter from venv (if venv is used)
 #ENV PATH="/.venv/bin:$PATH"
 
-FROM balticrcc/emfos-base:latest as emfos-model-retriever
+FROM ${BASE_IMAGE} as emfos-model-retriever
 
 # Set working directory
 WORKDIR /src
@@ -38,7 +41,7 @@ ENV PYTHONPATH="${PYTHONPATH}:/src"
 ENTRYPOINT ["python", "emf/model_retriever/opdm_worker.py"]
 #ENTRYPOINT ["/bin/bash"]
 
-FROM balticrcc/emfos-base:latest as emfos-local-model-retriever
+FROM ${BASE_IMAGE} as emfos-local-model-retriever
 
 # Set working directory
 WORKDIR /src
@@ -52,7 +55,7 @@ COPY config/ ./config/
 ENV PYTHONPATH="${PYTHONPATH}:/src"
 ENTRYPOINT ["python", "emf/model_retriever/local_worker.py"]
 
-FROM balticrcc/emfos-base:latest as emfos-model-validator
+FROM ${BASE_IMAGE} as emfos-model-validator
 
 # Set working directory
 WORKDIR /src
@@ -67,7 +70,7 @@ ENV PYTHONPATH="${PYTHONPATH}:/src"
 ENTRYPOINT ["python", "emf/model_validator/worker.py"]
 #ENTRYPOINT ["/bin/bash"]
 
-FROM balticrcc/emfos-base:latest as emfos-model-merger
+FROM ${BASE_IMAGE} as emfos-model-merger
 
 # Set working directory
 WORKDIR /src
@@ -82,7 +85,7 @@ ENV PYTHONPATH="${PYTHONPATH}:/src"
 ENTRYPOINT ["python", "emf/model_merger/worker.py"]
 #ENTRYPOINT ["/bin/bash"]
 
-FROM balticrcc/emfos-base:latest as emfos-task-generator
+FROM ${BASE_IMAGE} as emfos-task-generator
 
 # Set working directory
 WORKDIR /src
@@ -97,14 +100,16 @@ ENV PYTHONPATH="${PYTHONPATH}:/src"
 ENTRYPOINT ["python", "emf/task_generator/worker.py"]
 #ENTRYPOINT ["/bin/bash"]
 
-# Model Quality image
-FROM balticrcc/emfos-base:latest as emfos-model-quality
+FROM ${BASE_IMAGE} as emfos-model-quality
 
+# Set working directory
 WORKDIR /src
 
+# Copy files to container
 COPY emf/model_quality/ ./emf/model_quality/
 COPY emf/common/ ./emf/common/
 COPY config/ ./config/
 
+# Start process
 ENV PYTHONPATH="${PYTHONPATH}:/src"
 ENTRYPOINT ["python", "emf/model_quality/worker.py"]