Labour Urged to Commit to Devolving Powers
Ahead of the final stages of the UK government’s anti-strike legislation, the SNP has once again urged pro-Brexit Labour to commit to devolving employment laws to Holyrood.
In a letter to Keir Starmer, the SNP’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn MP, has said the urgency to devolve employment laws to Scotland “grows stronger every day” – with Westminster control directly resulting in over 105,000 Scottish workers being denied “the dignity of basic working practices in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis”.
The figure comes from the Office for National Statistics, which has confirmed that 3.9% of the Scottish workforce are dealing with the deep insecurity caused by zero-hour contracts.
The renewed call for laws to be devolved comes after the General Secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, Roz Foyer, made the same demand:
Now more than ever, Scotland needs the devolution of employment law to outlaw, once and for all, the use of zero hours contracts, giving workers security, certainty and workplace rights from day one of their employment.
Mr Flynn has previously written to Keir Starmer offering to work alongside him in opposing the anti-strike Bill in question, and to discuss the possibility of devolving employment powers to Scotland in order to protect Scottish workers. However, he received no reply.
This draconian Tory legislation truly crystallises the case for devolution of employment law to Scotland.
GRAEME
It is a latest in a long time of UK Government attacks on workers’ rights and protections.
Keir Starmer’s Labour are ignoring widespread political and civic support for transferring employment powers to Holyrood, including from the STUC, and will not even repeal this dreadful Bill should they form the next government.
It is clear that workers’ rights in Scotland cannot be safeguarded under Westminster control.
