Meeting of the Parliament 01 March 2016
As members have said, work, wages and wellbeing matter to us all. What people do when they get to work, how much and how they are paid, how they are treated and what work does to their lives are all pretty fundamental questions. They are of fundamental importance most of all to working people and their trade unions but, as we have heard from all sides of the chamber, they have a wider significance beyond the workplace, too.
Poverty wages, exploitation, insecurity, a reckless disregard for workplace safety and the victimisation of workers who demand rights tell us about a bit more than just the bad practice of a few rogue employers. All those things happen in Scotland today, so while a consensus on most of the report’s recommendations is to be welcomed, there are no grounds for complacency.
The Scottish Government says that it places a high value on good employment practice, and saying so is a step in the right direction, just as it is for companies that sign the Scottish business pledge. However, saying so is not enough in itself.
It is not enough for the First Minister to appoint a cabinet secretary with “fair work” in her job title unless the Government can reach a shared view on what is acceptable employment practice by companies that seek Scottish Government endorsement. That shared view came in the end, but only after considerable confusion. As the committee report says there was an
“initial failure to make explicit”
that companies using exploitative zero-hours contracts could not sign up to the Scottish business pledge, and the committee rightly calls for the Government to adopt much clearer definitions in that area.
Furthermore, it is not enough to have a cabinet secretary for fair work if she is not in the loop when it comes to decisions—or even discussions—about the award of Government funding to inward investors when some of those companies, as we have heard, flout the most basic expectations about fair treatment of employees. Ministers telling us that those are decisions for public servants and not for them is also not good enough. Stewardship of public money is the job of ministers who are directly accountable to Parliament, and the larger the sum the more important the accountability.
In pursuit of consensus, the committee asks very politely that ministers should look again at the process of making high-value awards of regional selective assistance to consider whether changes may be required. That review should not take long, given what we know already. If companies take Government money without respecting even the spirit of Government policy, there can surely be no doubt that changes are required—and the sooner the better.
On the question of the living wage, the committee has also chosen its words with care; nonetheless, it reaches a strong conclusion:
“scope exists to place stronger emphasis on the Living Wage and fair work practices through the public procurement process”.
We have heard a number of speakers echo that view in the debate.
It is perhaps a pity that the Scottish Government has not been more ambitious before now in exploring what further scope might be available. If the next Government follows the committee’s advice to explore the “options to the full”, it could make a real difference to many low-paid workers in contracting companies.
Last but not least, the report lays out the case against the Tories’ Trade Union Bill. The evidence reflected in the report clearly points to the conclusion that workers who are organised in trade unions are much less vulnerable to exploitation than those who are not. Fair work conventions, business pledges and living wage policies are all to be welcomed, but the biggest defence of all for decent work, wages and wellbeing is the ability of working people to organise in support of their rights at work. That is why stopping the Trade Union Bill is so important, why this side of the chamber welcomes the report and why we look forward to the Government’s responses to the whole range of recommendations in it in the near future.
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