STUC on Labour’s Work Manifesto

April 1st 2015

STUC on Labour’s Work Manifesto

April 1st 2015

Following today’s publication of Labour’s Work Manifesto, Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) General Secretary, Grahame Smith, said:

“The devastating individual and macro-economic impact of low pay and insecure work is a modern day scandal.

“Labour has made clear in its Work Manifesto that there are very clear dividing lines between it and the Tories on the key issues affecting working people in Scotland.

“Over the past fortnight the STUC has highlighted the exploitation of tens of thousands of workers - so many of them young people - and there is no doubt that ending zero hours contracts, raising the Minimum Wage and promoting the Living Wage, are key planks in a strategy to end that abuse. We are encouraged at hints of a sectoral approach to combatting low pay and unfair conditions in the social care sector and agriculture.

“Ultimately however, workers must be empowered to bargain for themselves in the workplace, through recognised trade unions. Equally in sectors such as hotels, retail and fast food, we need a sectoral approach which can raise standards across the board.

“We support the proposals contained in today's manifesto for work including the extension of parental leave and the abolition of employment tribunal fees.

“We will also continue to press the case for much more ambitious approach to increasing the Minimum Wage and for the introduction of freedoms, enjoyed by most workers in the developed world, to union representation and decency and dignity at work.”

ENDS

For further information contact Dave Moxham 0141 337 8100