Dundee West Labour
18 November 2019
Scottish Labour have declared its intention to bring about a transformation in employment rights in Scotland.
This revolution in the workplace will see the creation of a Department of Employment Rights, an extension to statutory maternity pay and sweeping expansion of sectoral collective bargaining.
A Labour Government will ban zero-hour contracts, introduce a £10 an hour minimum wage, and repeal the Tory Trade Union Act.
And Labour will introduce new rights for workers to have a stake in the company they work in by introducing Inclusive Ownership Funds which will allow workers to have a say in the running of industry and provide dividends of up to £500 per-year.
Scottish Labour has also declared an “insourcing revolution” that will provide quality, integrated public services, rebuild local government capacity and accountability after over a decade of Tory and SNP austerity and create new, well-paid and unionised jobs.
Under Scottish Labour’s plan government contracts would only be given to firms that recognised trade unions and allow collective bargaining.
Scottish Labour Leader Richard Leonard said: “Scottish Labour’s radical plan is nothing less than a step-change in how workers are treated in Scotland and represents a transfer in power from unaccountable bosses and share-holders to those who create the wealth.
“While the SNP talk left on employment rights they continually act right as seen when John Swinney subverted the democratic structures of the EIS and wrote to striking teachers behind the union’s back.
“Scottish Labour seek to place workers, the wealth creators, into the driving seat of our economy. Our plan will allow workers dividends, so they can enjoy the wealth they create, not just anonymous shareholders.
“An end to zero-hour contracts and a £10 pound-an-hour minimum living wage will mean a pay rise for hundreds of thousands of people in Scotland and we will release our trade union movement from the chains into which it was placed by the Tories’ anti-democratic Trade Union Act.
“We will institute this workplace transformation immediately and do so with pride. When Labour wins, the workers of Scotland win."
Mr Leonard will today hand-deliver a letter, co-signed by him and UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, calling on the Glasgow School of Art and its student association to reinstate workers at The Art School venue on guaranteed hours.
In the letter, Mr Corbyn and Mr Leonard write: “We were shocked to learn about the vast amounts of money spent by the Glasgow School of Art – the private funders of the Students’ Association – on the refurbishment of the Mackintosh Building, yet at the same time the venue claimed to be unable to provide working hours to their staff
"We understand that more than 25 people have effectively lost their income and jobs as a result of this decision.
“We hope that you will recognise the uncertainty that this has caused to these young workers and we therefore call on you to reinstate their hours and provide new guaranteed-hour contracts alongside the real living wage of £10 an hour to these young committed members of your staff.”
Scottish Labour have declared its intention to bring about a transformation in employment rights in Scotland.
This revolution in the workplace will see the creation of a Department of Employment Rights, an extension to statutory maternity pay and sweeping expansion of sectoral collective bargaining.
A Labour Government will ban zero-hour contracts, introduce a £10 an hour minimum wage, and repeal the Tory Trade Union Act.
And Labour will introduce new rights for workers to have a stake in the company they work in by introducing Inclusive Ownership Funds which will allow workers to have a say in the running of industry and provide dividends of up to £500 per-year.
Scottish Labour has also declared an “insourcing revolution” that will provide quality, integrated public services, rebuild local government capacity and accountability after over a decade of Tory and SNP austerity and create new, well-paid and unionised jobs.
Under Scottish Labour’s plan government contracts would only be given to firms that recognised trade unions and allow collective bargaining.
Scottish Labour Leader Richard Leonard said: “Scottish Labour’s radical plan is nothing less than a step-change in how workers are treated in Scotland and represents a transfer in power from unaccountable bosses and share-holders to those who create the wealth.
“While the SNP talk left on employment rights they continually act right as seen when John Swinney subverted the democratic structures of the EIS and wrote to striking teachers behind the union’s back.
“Scottish Labour seek to place workers, the wealth creators, into the driving seat of our economy. Our plan will allow workers dividends, so they can enjoy the wealth they create, not just anonymous shareholders.
“An end to zero-hour contracts and a £10 pound-an-hour minimum living wage will mean a pay rise for hundreds of thousands of people in Scotland and we will release our trade union movement from the chains into which it was placed by the Tories’ anti-democratic Trade Union Act.
“We will institute this workplace transformation immediately and do so with pride. When Labour wins, the workers of Scotland win."
Mr Leonard will today hand-deliver a letter, co-signed by him and UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, calling on the Glasgow School of Art and its student association to reinstate workers at The Art School venue on guaranteed hours.
In the letter, Mr Corbyn and Mr Leonard write: “We were shocked to learn about the vast amounts of money spent by the Glasgow School of Art – the private funders of the Students’ Association – on the refurbishment of the Mackintosh Building, yet at the same time the venue claimed to be unable to provide working hours to their staff
"We understand that more than 25 people have effectively lost their income and jobs as a result of this decision.
“We hope that you will recognise the uncertainty that this has caused to these young workers and we therefore call on you to reinstate their hours and provide new guaranteed-hour contracts alongside the real living wage of £10 an hour to these young committed members of your staff.”