The STUC (Scottish Trades Union Congress) has welcomed Scottish Government proposals to extend the Emergency Workers Act while expressing concern at the lack of consultation on the extent of the amendments.
STUC Deputy General Secretary Dave Moxham said
“The original Emergency Workers Act was introduced following extensive consultation with the trade union movement, an exercise that was extremely beneficial at the time. This ultimately led to further collaboration between the STUC and the former administration to tackle the wider problem of violence against public service workers”.
“It is right that GPs, nurses and midwives are protected from violence irrespective of the location in which they work. However, this is a missed opportunity to review the effectiveness of the current legislation and, following consultation with trade unions, extend the law to cover all workers”.
“While obviously welcoming the extension to the powers of the Act we will be asking the Scottish Government why they chose to ignore the views of the trade union movement on this occasion”.
ENDS
For further information contact Ian Tasker 0141 337 8100