Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 22 March 2011
22 Mar 2011 · S3 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Scottish Executive Question Time
Public Sector Employment (Compulsory Redundancy)
General Questions
That is indeed welcome news for many people. There are 34 Glasgow City Council workers who are being transferred under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations against their will as a result of the awarding of the United Kingdom Border Agency asylum support contract to Ypeople. Like lambs to the slaughter, if those workers accept the transfer, they face an insecure future, and many face imminent redundancy. However, if they do not accept, Glasgow City Council says that they will have made themselves redundant, despite that Labour council’s no compulsory redundancy policy. Does the cabinet secretary agree that those workers, who have been praised throughout the UK for the standard of their work, and who have been producing financial surpluses for their employers in today’s tough economic climate, are the very people whom the public sector should not only protect, but actively retain? Does he agree that a local authority the size of Glasgow City Council cannot possibly argue that it cannot redeploy a mere 34 workers?
In the same item of business
Anne McLaughlin (Glasgow) (SNP)
SNP
2. To ask the Scottish Government whether it is committed to a policy of no compulsory redundancies across the public sector. (S3O-13458)
The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth (John Swinney)
SNP
Yes, the Government is committed to a policy of no compulsory redundancies. There is real benefit in providing security of employment in uncertain times to t...
Anne McLaughlin
SNP
That is indeed welcome news for many people. There are 34 Glasgow City Council workers who are being transferred under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protecti...
John Swinney
SNP
It is important in all of those circumstances that the employees concerned are treated with care and dignity, and in an atmosphere of fairness. I encourage G...
Duncan McNeil (Greenock and Inverclyde) (Lab)
Lab
I heard and welcome the cabinet secretary’s answer that he would try to extend the policy of no compulsory redundancies throughout the public sector. Will he...
John Swinney
SNP
Mr McNeil has made his point fairly on the record. He will understand that it would be inappropriate for me to comment on any of the details that he has rais...