Extracts from Scottish Parliament debate on Protecting Workers' Rights - May 31

Thursday, 1 June 2017 07:50

The Minister for Employability and Training (Jamie Hepburn): ...Employment regulations are there to ensure safe working conditions, maternity and paternity leave and entitlement to holiday pay. However, our world of work is changing. The growth of the so-called Gig economy and the need to protect workers in that new employment category is vital. Self-employed workers constitute about 13 per cent of our workforce and those workers have little or no statutory benefits. Zero-hours...Request free trial

The Minister for Employability and Training (Jamie Hepburn): ...Employment regulations are there to ensure safe working conditions, maternity and paternity leave and entitlement to holiday pay. However, our world of work is changing. The growth of the so-called Gig economy and the need to protect workers in that new employment category is vital. Self-employed workers constitute about 13 per cent of our workforce and those workers have little or no statutory benefits. Zero-hours contracts are becoming more prevalent, although their use is lower in Scotland than it is in the rest of the UK, and technology is advancing...

...In addition to the challenges that have been thrust on us by the UK Government, the nature of the labour market is changing. There is the emergence of the so-called gig economy. We know that research says that nearly 8 million people in Britain would consider some form of gig work in the future and we know that, although such work may have some benefits, they are countered by workers not receiving employment status...

Dean Lockhart (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): In recent debates, the chamber has discussed the rapidly changing nature of the economy, the emergence of new business models such as the gig economy and the constantly changing demands that those developments are placing on workers across the UK...

...The UK Government proposes a number of additional worker protections, including fairer corporate governance structures, with worker representation on company boards, and further protections for people working outside traditional full-time employment, including self-employed people and those in the Gig economy...

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab):...The Tory amendment discusses an increase in workers' rights. What a joke. The Tories should tell that to people working in the Gig economy, to people who are employed in short-term, temporary contracts, to those on zero-hours contracts with no minimum guarantee and to those in low-pay jobs who are struggling to make ends meet...

Andy Wightman (Lothian) (Green): ...However, it does not stop there, and that leads me to the Gig economy a curious phrase dreamt up, no doubt, by callous wannabe hipsters seeking to conjure up similes of youthfulness and carefree flexibility. Despite their best efforts to soften that form of contractual working, the harsh reality is that it means that people are employed on short-term contracts with no protection against unfair dismissal, no right to redundancy payments and no right to receive the national minimum wage, paid holiday or sickness pay.

That is not exactly the happy-go-lucky imagery that one would expect. However, the language associated with the Gig economy has been meticulously selected to undermine workers' rights. Take, for instance, one well-known courier company that has its own in-house vocabulary guide that openly eliminates workers' rights. Instead of having employees, workers, or staff it has "riders", who are retained on a "supplier agreement" rather than an employment contract. Such subtleties indicate that those delivering for the firm are having their employment status undercut, thus denying their right to the minimum wage, yet the company's chiefs do not deny it...

Bob Doris (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP):...My constituent has to pay a substantial rent for their taxi, pay for a radio for their taxi and buy their fuel. They are likely to be out six days a week, for maybe 10 hours day, and they work out that they get maybe £4.50 an hour. The so-called Gig economy is not working for my constituent; they called it "slave labour:...

Joan McAlpine (South Scotland) (SNP):...Other members have mentioned the gig economy. As we speak, the Court of Justice of the European Union is contemplating whether Uber is a transport firm, with the obligations that come with that, or an electronic firm. The non-binding opinion of the Advocate General is that Uber will need licences, like any other taxi company. We do not yet know the final opinion of the court, but it is clear that the end result will be important for protecting the rights of workers in the digital age...

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): ...I hope that the Green case for additional requirements on the Government's support services to companies, and for ensuring that we address the condition of workers in what is coming to be called the gig economy, will get support from across the chamber. In one of the early Green debates during my first session in the Parliament, we were making the case for wider economic measures beyond gross domestic product, looking at quality of life, and I remember a Labour MSP ”although it could have come from any party in the chamber” saying that having a job gives people dignity and that having money gives them quality of life. The notion that employment or work is the best or only route out of poverty is not enough unless we ensure that that work is decent, secure, safe, healthy to do and provided by an employer that respects family life.

Murdo Fraser told us about the good record that this country has on industrial relations. What he means is that we have fewer strikes. Where workers are punished, as they are today, for organising in unions, unable to take collective action, that is not an expression of good industrial relations. Rather, it represents successful industrial exploitation. It is not just the Trade Union Act 2016 but the actions of companies in the Gig economy that are making that a reality, as the slaveroo campaign and the better than zero campaign are making clear. There has been greater progress towards workers' rights, and it can be achieved by Government action, but the lesson of history suggests that it is unlikely that that route alone will ever be enough, unless the option exists for people to organise together and take collective industrial action in defence of their interests...

Maurice Golden (West Scotland) (Con):...Jackie Baillie also highlighted the point that growing the economy should not be at the expense of the workforce, with which we on these benches agree. Andy Wightman highlighted issues around the Gig economy and a lack of workers' rights in that particular area...

To read the whole debate, CLICK HERE