The country’s most senior trade unionist has urged the Scottish Government to protect workers in the public sector as thousands face redundancy in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.
STUC general secretary Rozanne Foyer said many councils and public services were “addicted” to outsourcing work to recruitment agencies “whose only concern is squeezing some profit from supplying workers on demand”.
There are up to 120,000 agency workers in Scotland. Ms Foyer said many of them are sub-contracted by the public sector, including the NHS and arm’s-length council organisations such as the Scottish Event Campus, which owns the Hydro and SEC in Glasgow. Levy Restaurants, which employs hospitality staff at the venue, is making up to 500 workers redundant before the UK Government furlough scheme ends next month.
Ms Foyer said: “I want to see the Scottish Government face up to the scale of this problem. Any publicly funded job in Scotland must have conditionality attached to the contract so that workers have a decent contract, access to trade unions and an effective worker voice.”
Two weeks ago the Falkirk-based bus and coach builder Alexander Dennis said it expected to cut 650 jobs due to the pandemic. It received £7.5 million in public funding from Scottish Enterprise in 2016.
The Scottish Government said: “Through our Fair Work First approach we attach fair work criteria to grants, other funding streams and contracts awarded by and across the public sector to drive fair working practices across Scotland. Employers are asked to commit to adopting fair working practices that will help create more diverse and inclusive workplaces where workers have greater security of pay and contract, can develop their skills and have an effective voice in the workplace.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned on Tuesday the end of the UK Government furlough scheme next month will cause a “tsunami of redundancies”. She called for the job retention scheme to be extended 12 months, “especially for the sectors hardest hit by Covid and with the longest road to recovery”.
On Thursday a report by academics at Edinburgh University’s Business School warned that more than a quarter of hospitality and tourism businesses in Scotland could collapse, costing up to 60,000 jobs.
Meanwhile, the Night-Time Industries Association Scotland has warned music venues and nightclubs were facing “financial Armageddon”, with more than half fearing they will have to shut within two months.
The Workers
Pauline, 28
Pauline is an interpreter with the NHS
“I’ve been employed by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) on a zero-hours contract for a number of years. There are about 300 of us in total, only 12 have full-time contracts. For the rest, there’s no guarantee of hours and the pay is low. Last year, all NHS employees got pay rises under Agenda for Change, but we were excluded.
“We’re supposedly key workers, but we feel like secondary workers. At the moment, we’re having meetings together to push for better conditions.”
NHSGGC said: “We recognise challenges faced as a result of Covid-19 and have sought to support the sessional interpreters throughout this time.”
John, 20
John is employed as a casual worker by Levy Restaurant, a catering firm owned by Compass and subcontracted by the SEC, Glasgow
“I really enjoyed working at the SEC. It was a great job, I loved the people and getting to see gigs.
“When they put us on furlough, we were getting 80% of our average earnings, but through Unite Hospitality we got that increased to 100% for a few weeks.
“We’ve been told there will be a restructure, affecting 100 of us with potential redundancies.”
Levy UK said: “This is not a decision we have taken lightly, and are working hard to redeploy teams where possible.”
Not their real names
Workers need to fight back. There’s a post-Covid world that must be won
Rozanne Foyer, STUC general secretary
The coronavirus pandemic has thrown the sorry state of our labour market into sharp relief.
For many workers, life became even more precarious. For workers on zero hours, temporary contracts or employed by agencies, navigating their employment has been fraught with issues and stress. When you factor in the fact that many of these jobs are subcontracted by the public sector, the current situation becomes all the more galling.
There are 110,000 temporary workers in Scotland. Meanwhile, the number of people in Scotland on zero-hour contracts has risen by 19% in the last year to now stand at 82,000.
Some of the biggest increases are found in health and social work. While credible data on agency workers is hard to come by, we estimate that there may be around 70,000-120,000 in Scotland. Many of these agency workers are subcontracted by the public sector, including within the NHS and arms-length local authority organisations such as the Scottish Exhibition Centre.
© SYSTEMWhat we have seen during the coronavirus pandemic is a complete lack of information, responsibility and accountability to workers. Many have been passed from pillar to post, ultimately being cruelly tossed aside and left to fend for themselves.
For employees who have been furloughed, the anxiety of whether they’ll still have a job for Christmas is beginning to kick in. The Job Retention Scheme is beginning to wind down, with the support given by the UK Government reduced, and the scheme due to end in October.
The UK Government must continue the scheme in some form past October, due to the many industries that are still not able to get back on their feet. Sectors such as hospitality and retail will need continued support.
The Scottish Government is committed to being a world leader in fair work by 2025. Yet many public services and local authorities are addicted to outsourcing work to recruitment agencies whose only concern is squeezing some profit from supplying workers on demand. As Scotland enters another recession and youth unemployment soars, public firms and publicly funded bodies should not be feeding this.
As general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, I want to see the Scottish Government face up to the scale of this problem.
Any publicly-funded job in Scotland must have conditionality attached to the contract so that people have a decent contract, access to trade unions and an effective worker voice.
One of the ironies of agency work is that it often leaves workers with virtually no agency to make decisions about their work or to understand the way that decisions are made. And often agency workers are denied the ability to build collective agency of their own.
But with the support of the Better Than Zero Campaign and unions, workers are fighting back by keeping in contact with fellow employees through WhatsApp or other messaging platforms; demanding to see risk assessments; examining company’s profits; making collective demands; exerting pressure through public criticism; and taking collective action.
As the furlough scheme is wound down and the economy opens up, these simple steps will be crucial in delivering fairer work in workplaces the length and breadth of Scotland.
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