General Election 2015: STUC releases manifesto for decent work

March 6th 2015

General Election 2015: STUC releases manifesto for decent work

March 6th 2015

STUC General Secretary Grahame Smith said:

“With two months to go before the General Election, it is clear that Scotland will be a major battle ground in determining the outcome. Scotland’s 620,000 trade union members and their families and friends will have a real say in determining the future.

“The STUC views with alarm the possibility of the return of a Tory Government committed to further austerity and attacks on living standards and quality of work. The Tories plan to further undermine employment protection and erode the fundamental rights of workers to organise and bargain in the workplace.

“We welcome the commitments of both Labour and the SNP to support measures to protect workers from zero-hours contracts, to increase the Minimum Wage, pay and promote the Living Wage, and act definitively against such practices as blacklisting. However, as our manifesto makes clear, economic inequality in Scotland cannot be effectively challenged without a wider commitment to allowing trade unions the freedom to organise and to bargain collectively. This manifesto therefore provides a challenge to all parties in Scotland to support a wide range of measures which would restore trade union freedom, and through restoring sectoral bargaining, remove the shackles which all too often prevent us from defending those who suffer most from low pay and insecure work.”

“We will be asking the prospective candidates of all Scotland’s main political parties to pledge to support our manifesto and will collate and publish our the responses from all candidates at our Congress on 20th April.”

ENDS

For further details: Dave Moxham 0141 337 8100

Download General Election 2015 - Manifesto for decent work