LABOUR will push forward plans to end the use of zero-hours contracts in public sector contracts under any circumstances in a proposed tightening of fair work rules.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has set out a ‘better business Scotland’ scheme which he said will form part of proposals to strengthen the country’s economic recovery from the Covid-19.
As part of Labour’s national recovery plan for jobs, set to be unveiled this week, the party has demanded a guarantee that no publicly procured contract uses zero-hours based labour under any circumstances.
The party has pointed to the current ‘fair work first’ rules over public procurement, which it says only preclude the ‘inappropriate’ use of zero-hours contracts – leaving the door open to zero-hours being used by companies benefiting from public procurement.
Scottish Labour has pledged it would prevent any public sector procurement work going to companies that use zero-hours contracts.
READ MORE: SNP under fire for 'measly' £10m extra funding for businesses
A part of the vision to help promote good work principles, Scottish Labour will propose a ‘better business Scotland’ certification scheme.
The system would provide recognition to those who do not use zero hours contracts, pay the Scottish Living Wage and produce a clear carbon reduction plan or commit to net zero.
Mr Sarwar has said that Scottish Labour is committed to putting fairness and good work values at the heart of Scotland’s economic recovery.
He said: “Alongside the tragic death toll that this pandemic has caused we have taken an economic hit harder and deeper than the banking crisis.
“We need to put a jobs recovery at the heart of our plan for a national recovery from the pandemic.
“But we need to make sure that our economic recovery is based on fairness and good work – we cannot go back to the inequalities and the broken economic model pre-Covid.”
Mr Sarwar added: “We should bring an end to the use of zero-hours contracts by companies that benefit from public funds and establish a ‘better business Scotland’ certification scheme to promote good work principles.
“Scotland deserves better than the inequalities of the past. Scottish Labour will fight for an economic recovery with fairness at its heart.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel