The Scottish Government has a chance to turn the clock back on 14 years of austerity and rebuild community wealth. But to do so it must invest in local services, end peak fares, deliver free school meals, scrap the small business bonus scheme, and raise revenue from property and wealth taxes.
November 2024
STUC briefing showing that Scotland's gender pay gap has increased from 6.4% in 2023 to 8.3% in 2024.
November 2024
October 2024
STUC Parliamentary Briefing ahead of Scottish Green Party debate on Budget Priorities
October 2024
This report, commissioned by the Scottish Trades Union Congress and researched and written by Transition Economics, sets out the potential investment necessary to deliver ScotWind projects, and what is needed to scale up Scotland’s supply chain to be able to secure jobs domestically. To reach the job creation potential and domestic procurement ScotWind developers have promised, there needs to be an enormous ramp-up in the Scottish supply chain for offshore wind but existing public investment to scale up Scotland’s domestic supply chains for offshore wind is a drop in the ocean compared to the £2.5 billion - £4.5 billion required.
May 2024
A report by the STUC analysing the state of Scotland’s Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy, and highlighting the gap between the rapidly growing income made by companies across offshore and onshore wind with a decreasing number of jobs.
April 2024
On 7th March 2024, the Scottish Parliament held a debate on the importance of a Just Transition Plan for the Mossmorran complex.
April 2024
On the 24th of January 2024, the Scottish Government led debate on their motion about investing in the green economy, including the importance of public investment.
April 2024
Open letter from STUC and Scotland’s largest creative industries unions to Channel 4 and Ofcom raising concerns about Ofcom proposals to allow Channel 4 to allocate 91% of its production budget to projects in England.
April 2024
Open letter from Scotland’s largest trade unions, academics, charities and campaign organisations calling on Scotland’s main political party leaders to ‘urgently’ revaluate property across the country as a critical step towards reforming Scotland’s broken system of local property taxation.
April 2024
A report by Howard Reed, Landman Economics, commissioned by the STUC exploring the options for increasing taxes in Scotland to fund investment in public services and public sector pay. The research finds that short-run and longer-run tax changes could raise an extra £3.7 billion per year.
April 2024
The Scottish Government carried out a series of engagements with stakeholders during the co-design period of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill
April 2024
On the 29th of February 2024, the Scottish Government led debate on Stage 1 of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill.
April 2024
STUC report looking at what has happened to real wages in Scotland in the two years. The research, which includes analysis by sector, shows that the average worker is more than £1400 worse-off due to pay not keeping up with inflation.
September 2023
STUC’s ‘Public Power League’ shows the progress made by local authorities across Scotland to develop their own energy projects. The league tables, which show Aberdeenshire topping the capacity chart with 226 megawatts of energy, and Stirling topping the number of installations chart, aim to show the progress made by local authorities in creating local municipal energy projects.
August 2023
STUC research showing that over the last two years the average employee in Scotland has lost more than £1,400 in real wages as a result of pay not keeping up with inflation.
August 2023
This report reviews the latest data from the Office for National Statistics on the Low Carbon and Renewable Economy in Scotland in 2021. The analysis builds upon previous STUC reports into the Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy, ‘Broken Promises and Offshored Jobs’ and ‘Scotland’s Renewable Jobs Crisis & Covid 19’.
May 2023
Scotland’s adult social care workforce makes up approximately 8% of all Scottish employment or one in 13 jobs. Yet this low-paid, predominantly female workforce is increasingly undervalued. This report shows that, in recent years, pay has fallen, staff turnover has increased, and the workforce has shrunk.
April 2023
A report by Howard Reed, Landman Economics, commissioned by the STUC exploring the options for increasing taxes in Scotland to fund investment in public services and public sector pay. The research finds that short-run and longer-run tax changes could raise an extra £3.3 billion per year, which could be used to fund a real-terms increase in public sector pay as well as a substantial additional investment in Scotland’s public services. The increase in public sector pay reduces gender inequalities in earnings, and the package of tax increases is distributionally progressive whether measured by household wealth or household income.
December 2022
A report by Sara Mahmoud, Christine Berry, and Mike Lewis which examines how the ownership structure of care providers impacts on quality of care and employee job quality. The report finds Scotland’s large private social care providers are associated with lower wages, more complaints about care quality, and higher levels of rent extraction than public and third sector care providers. The report argues that rather than remain ‘ownership neutral’ as the Scottish Government’s current proposals do, a truly transformative National Care Service must be based on a not-for-profit public service, delivered through local authorities with an ongoing role for the voluntary sector.
June 2022
On 17 January, Crown Estate Scotland announced the outcome of its application process for ScotWind Leasing, with 17 projects awarded option agreements. The 17 projects have a potential total capacity of almost 25 GW of offshore wind - both floating and fixed. Transition Economics has analysed the ownership and jobs potential outcomes of ScotWind lease round.
January 2022
This briefing examines jobs in Scotland’s harder-to-decarbonise manufacturing sectors at risk of being offshored without timely and worker-friendly climate action. It finds that between 9,700 and 16,700 direct jobs could be offshored if Scotland falls behind other countries in taking action to reduce emissions from manufacturing and heavy industry. When supply chains are accounted for, a total of 24,430 jobs could be at risk. The STUC is calling on the Scottish Government to work with unions to future-proof jobs at risk of offshoring, ensure policy ambition matches climate targets, ensure local content is used in renewable energy projects, develop a publicly-owned energy company and develop a National Infrastructure Company. It is also calling on the UK Government to increase public investment.
November 2021
This paper looks at the potential benefits of climate proofing Scotland’s buildings through retrofitting programmes. It considers how these programmes should be delivered to reduce emissions quickly while maximising social and economic benefit. It recommends that more direct approach to delivery is needed with the Scottish Government providing the finance necessary for Local Authorities to establish municipal energy companies and deliver street-by-street retrofitting programmes, supported by a National Infrastructure Company.
October 2021
This paper looks at the social, environmental and economic importance of buses and considers ways in which they can be taken back into public control. It calls on the Scottish Government to provide financial support to Local Authorities who express an interest in bus re-regulation and public ownership of buses.
September 2021
This is the main report of a project to map collective bargaining in Scotland, carried out in late 2020 to early 2021 by the Labour Research Department (LRD) for the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC).
July 2021
A report by Laurie Macfarlane and Christine Berry identifying the parts of Scotland’s economy that have prospered during the covid-19 pandemic; the structural changes that are underpinning this; the role that scottish government policy has played; and the potential long-term impact on the labour market in the years ahead.
April 2021
This report, commissioned by the STUC and researched and written by Transition Economics, sets out how Scotland can maximise green job creation, as well as Fair Work and effective worker voice in these jobs. The report estimates - with the right policies and funding in place - Scotland could see job creation in the region of 156,000 - 367,000 jobs. However, it is also possible for Scotland to decarbonise without significant domestic job creation - and that those jobs created could be primarily precarious and under-paid. For example, the same very ambitious roll-out of renewable energy could create up to 70,000 Scottish jobs - or less than 9,000. The difference depends on the policies put in place by government.
April 2021
This report by Professor Phil Taylor analyses the responses of 510 contact centre workers in Scotland and the hazards they face from exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and the disease Covid19. Extensive evidence of serious dangers, including no or inadequate social distancing, face-to-face contact, hotdesking, problems with HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems. The report combines primary evidence with a critical review of including an extensive literature consisting of reports, academic articles, practitioner and government guidance. It concludes with an extended discussion section exploring the implications, Finally, a recommendations' chapter identifies important steps that should be taken to ensure contact workers' safety.
June 2020
This report analyses ONS data to examine Scotland’s low-carbon economy. It finds that employment in Scotland’s low-carbon and renewable energy economy (LCRE) flatlined between 2014 and 2018. Despite past promises of 130,000 jobs by 2020, direct employment in 2018 was 23,100, down from 23,400 in 2014. By looking at imports and exports data, the report concludes that a trade deficit and a sector dominated by private and overseas interests are the primary reason behind this lack of employment.
June 2020
The report contains new calculations showing that Scotland’s richest twenty families are wealthier than 30% of the population. It takes a critical view of the Scottish and UK Government’s economic recovery plans and calls for a fundamental rethink on the purpose of growth and the introduction of urgent measures such as a National Care Service, a green stimulus package, wealth taxes, sectoral collective bargaining and democratic public ownership.
May 2020
The STUC report is based on six focus groups which were held with union members in distribution, retail, hospitality and the creative industries as well as with activists from the Better than Zero campaign and members of the STUC’s black workers, youth, and women’s committees. The report provides an insight into the way these members see their work and the impacts on their lives. It confirms some of the views held within the movement and wider society about the nature and impact of insecure work, but it also challenges some pre-conceptions. The report offers recommendations for both trade unions and policy makers in meeting the challenge of organising and legislating to increase security and build workers’ power.
October 2019
Written by IPPR, this thought paper outlines the existing local government funding context, including recent cuts to local government funding in Scotland, and current funding arrangements. The paper then looks at a number of international examples of sub-state taxes, before considering which of these international examples could be applicable in Scotland. The paper considers five illustrative examples of potential new forms of local tax and local funding arrangements in Scotland.
September 2019
This report looks at the past promises of employment in the low-carbon and renewable energy (LCRE) economy and how this has not translated into the jobs boom promised. By analysing the current make-up of employment in the low-carbon economy and a number of recent renewables projects, it considers the implications of a failure of industrial policy. In presenting this report, the STUC are not criticising the LCRE economy per se. Indeed the STUC is absolutely committed to building a low-carbon economy and meeting climate change targets. However, we are criticising the failure of industrial policy to ensure that workers, businesses, and Government in Scotland benefit from Scotland’s natural resources. Without a domestic industrial base for the LCRE economy, not only will workers in Scotland miss out, but there are serious implications in terms of tax, transparency, economic democracy and meeting climate targets.
April 2019
The UK’s Minimum Wage laws allow workers to be paid less based on their age, even if their job, skills, and experience match those of colleagues. This study, based on a survey of 100 people working in care homes, bars and restaurants, retail, the postal service, local authorities, fast food outlets, call centres and cinemas, examines the reality of live for young workers paid the minimum wage.
April 2019
This report examines social care and early learning and childcare (ELC) in Scotland. It looks at recruitment and retention issues in these female-dominated, undervalued sectors and considers the implications of current trends, forecasts and policy commitments. It concludes that a perfect storm of existing staffing issues, an ageing population, Scottish Government policy commitments, Brexit, automation, and historic and ongoing equal pay discrimination is likely to lead to further staffing issues and increasing industrial unrest. The report recommends that alongside increased investment, sectoral bargaining structures are put in place to ensure that future changes are brought about in partnership with workers, employers and the Scottish Government.
April 2019
Commissioned by the STUC and written by Gregor Gall and Mike Danson from the Jimmy Reid Foundation. this report looks at trends in the South of Scotland economy and the concerns and aspirations of workers in the region. It considers the factors that make up successful Regional Development Agencies and makes recommendations for the new South of Scotland Enterprise Agency to promote inclusive and sustainable development focused on the priorities of local workers, citizens and enterprises.
March 2019
This Charter, which updates the existing joint STUC and Volunteer Scotland Charter, sets out clear and unambiguous principles for assuring volunteer legitimacy and preventing exploitation.
February 2019
The severe weather experienced across Scotland early in 2018 had a severe and prolonged impact on workers and businesses. Many workers were unable to get to work; some were prevented from working; and those with caring responsibilities were also affected. This Charter has been developed jointly by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), providing a set of guiding principles to support employers and workers to plan for and manage the impact of severe weather.
November 2018
More than 1400 people completed STUC’s survey about travelling to work in adverse weather conditions during the ‘Beast from the East’ between 1-6 March 2018. The results show that respondents who had a trade union representative to speak to were more likely to be satisfied by their employer’s response; there is a lack of clarity about essential services; and ‘non-direct’ public sector staff, such as cleaning, catering, and support staff were badly impacted. This suggests a disjoint between what different levels of Government are saying publicly and what is happening in practice.
March 2018
This briefing looks at the relationship between collective bargaining and inclusive growth. It considers the relationship historically (in the UK) and geographically (across OECD countries) and explores potential drivers of this relationship. It recommends that the Scottish Government should prioritise actions to increase trade union membership and collective bargaining coverage. In the short term it is therefore important to have a Government indicator relating to collective bargaining coverage within the National Performance Framework.
February 2018
The STUC Womens’ Committee launched a survey on menopause in the workplace at the 90th STUC Women’s Conference in Glenrothes in October 2017. This is report on the survey results finds that 99% of respondents either don’t have or don’t know if they have a workplace menopause policy, while 63% said the menopause has been treated as a joke at work.
January 2018
