Kick Start risks being a False Start

July 8th 2020

Kick Start risks being a False Start

July 8th 2020

Kick Start risks being a False Start unless Government takes action to guarantee job quality

The STUC called for urgent talks to ensure that kick start programme creates better and more sustainable jobs

• The majority of the £2 billion Kick Start pledge will be funded from savings in Universal Credit

• Kick Start wage pay rate would provide jobs at less than half of a Living Wage salary risking the creation of a new tier of exploitative jobs

• £3 billion investment in green recovery reheats old government announcements, should be at least 20 times as ambitious, and compares unfavourably with other European nations

• Job Retention Bonus, while welcome, does too little to limit redundancies. Many businesses will fall off the cliff edge as the retention scheme ends before they can fully re-open and recover cashflow

• Nothing in the Chancellor’s package to provide additional support for childcare or rewards key workers with pay increases

Roz Foyer, General Secretary of the STUC stated:

“We have lobbied hard for a large-scale capital investment, a Job Guarantee programme and for the extension of the furlough scheme. The Chancellor’s response lacks ambition and fails to guarantee decent work.

“The minimum wage rate for Kick Start should be the real Living Wage underpinning a ‘rate for the job’ approach, preventing job replacement at lower rates of pay.

“We will be looking very carefully at the detail of the Kick Start announcement including the extent to which the Scottish Government and Scottish local authorities will have a role in shaping and delivering the scheme.

“Rishi Sunak talks about the ‘nobility of work’, what we need to see is a focus on the nobility and value of quality, decent and fair work. Less bonuses for bosses, more adequate wages, good terms and conditions and collective bargaining for workers.”

ENDS

For more information, please contact Rachel Thomson, Campaigns & Communications Officer on 07974966227 or Dave Moxham, Deputy General Secretary, on 07891026870.

Rachel Thomson Campaigns & Communications Officer Scottish Trades Union Congress 07974966227