SNP manifesto: what it means for workers

by the SNP
Posted on
7 years ago
2 min read

We have launched our manifesto for the General Election on 8 June. It sets out how we will ensure that there is strong opposition to a re-elected and increasingly hard line Tory government at Westminster.

The SNP always has and always will champion Scotland. Here’s how strong SNP voices will stand up for workers.

 

  • SNP MPs will press for the full devolution of employment and employability policy to enable the Scottish Government to protect and enhance vital workers’ rights.

 

  • We will back matching the Minimum Wage to the level of the real Living Wage, taking the Minimum Wage to over £10 per hour by the end of the parliament – for all those above the age of 18.

 

  • Leaving the Single Market could cost 80,000 jobs in Scotland. We will demand a place for Scotland at the Brexit negotiating table, and the inclusion of the case for Scotland’s place in the Single Market in the UK’s negotiating remit to protect jobs here in Scotland.

 

  • SNP MPs will press the UK government to ban exploitative zero-hours contracts, and ensure workers have appropriate rights and protections, including holiday and sick pay. This will help casual workers, agency workers and those employed in the gig economy.

 

  • Measures should be introduced to ensure blacklisters do not benefit from UK government procurement. The SNP Scottish Government has already introduced regulations to exclude businesses which have been found to be involved in blacklisting from bidding for public contracts.

 

  • We will support the repeal of the Trade Union Act, which is an attack on fundamental workers’ rights to organise, bargain collectively and withdraw their labour.

 

  • At a time of rising inflation, public sector pay caps become unsustainable. For the NHS, the SNP Scottish Government will work with the independent pay review body on the impact of pay restraint and ask it to make fair recommendations. We will implement the recommendations of the pay review body in full. For the wider public sector, we will enter into negotiations for next year’s pay settlement with a view to agreeing a fair outcome that takes into account of both the public finances and the cost of living.

 

  • We will press the UK government to follow the lead of the SNP Scottish Government by establishing a Fair Work Commission – with representation from trade unions, public sector organisations and businesses – to ensure workers’ rights across the UK are not diminished as a result of Brexit.

 

  • SNP MPs will support lowering the current threshold for gender pay reporting to 150 employees and the introduction of sanctions, including fines, for employers that fail to comply with the law. And we believe private companies and public bodies should report not just on their gender pay gap but on race and disability too.

 

  • We back the Women and Equalities Committee’s recommendation to strengthen the law to protect women from discriminatory redundancies and practices.

 

  • SNP MPs will vote for a change in the Equality Act to strengthen and change the law that currently allows employers to have different dress codes for men and women, to tackle workplace discrimination and sexist dress codes.

Read our manifesto in full here.