Scottish government presses for devolution of employment law

Trade unions and the Scottish government should work together to press the UK government to devolve employment law to Scotland, Economy Secretary Keith Brown has said.

At the Unite Scotland conference in Aviemore last week, Mr Brown said that the two organisations should step up pressure on the UK government to defend the employee rights currently protected by EU membership.

He said: “With the powers that we have, we have worked hard to tackle in-work poverty and support people on low incomes. For example, we have prioritised the extension of the real living wage which has helped contribute to Scotland having the highest proportion of employees paid at least the Living Wage of all four UK countries.

“We continue to condemn the use of exploitative zero hours contracts and have set up a Fair Work Convention to support the fair pay and conditions agenda.

“However, we cannot rely on the UK government to introduce fair work policies which align with Scotland’s inclusive growth agenda.

“I welcome the Scottish Trades Union Congress support for our calls to devolve employment law. We must continue to press the UK government to reconsider their opposition to this and, as Economy Secretary, I will be taking all available opportunities to do so.”