Chamber and committees

Presiding Officer, I apologise that I did not arrive until portfolio question time was starting.

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking through its Covid recovery strategy to support students. (S6O-01875)

In the Covid-19 recovery strategy, the Scottish Government states that it recognises the significant cost of rent for many households. A recent report commissioned by the National Union of Students has found that rents for student accommodation increased by 34 per cent between 2018 and 2021. Will the cabinet secretary commit to reinstating the rent freeze for student accommodation until a permanent system of rent controls is put in place?

The administrators have confirmed that no offers have been made that would result in the transfer of the company’s stores or staff. Of course, those job losses are in addition to the proposed job losses at the Amazon site in Gourock, which is also in the west of Scotland.

I am very grateful to the minister for his offer to discuss the creation of a task force. Does he agree that, as well as ensuring that we provide every support to any staff affected, we must prevent more buildings from becoming empty in town centres in the west of Scotland?

As a number of members have said, it is becoming increasingly clear what a complete disaster Brexit is, with labour shortages, difficulties in obtaining many products and appalling growth predictions. I welcome this timely debate, which focuses on workers’ rights—rights that were hard fought for.

During the EU referendum campaign, trade unions warned of the risk that Brexit would lead to the loss of vital employment rights and protections. The UK Government’s Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill shows that trade unions were right in their warnings. The Work Foundation, which is based at Lancaster University, has warned that the bill will put at risk the rights and protections of more than 8.6 million UK workers. The bill could lead to loss of protections for part-time, fixed-term and agency workers, and it could have an impact on other employment rights, including holiday pay and maternity leave.

The UK Government is also using the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, which is being debated in the House of Commons, to undermine workers’ ability to take strike action in defence of their pay and conditions. That bill will empower ministers and employers to force workers to work during strike action. If workers fail to comply, they will risk being sacked. Trade unions that fail to comply will face huge damages.

The rights of individuals to take strike action and the rights of trade unions to operate legally were hard fought for. The Taff Vale decision in 1901 led to the Trade Disputes Act 1906, which provided the legal immunity that trade unions currently have when their members take strike action.

However, rather than addressing the concerns of nurses, firefighters, public transport workers and others, the UK Government is now threatening to sack them if they choose to exercise their right to strike. We have gone from clapping our front-line workers to sacking them.

The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill is fundamentally undemocratic. It will force workers to cross picket lines, even if, in a legal ballot, they have voted to strike. The Trades Union Congress is right to call the bill “draconian”.

In the Scottish Parliament, we must oppose the bill and work with trade unions throughout Scotland to protect the right to strike. I am therefore pleased to hear that the Scottish Government is willing to refuse consent to the bill, given the potential impact that it would have in devolved areas.

As the UK Government attacks workers’ rights, we must reflect on whether the Scottish Parliament is using all our powers to strengthen workers’ rights in Scotland. The Scottish Government’s current fair work first approach does not go far enough; fair work first is too focused on encouraging employers to change their employment practices, rather than on delivering enforceable standards that employers must adhere to.

In addition, there is no clear consistency from the Scottish Government in its own application of fair work principles, with employers that have poor records on workers’ rights receiving significant public contracts. Amazon has received tens of millions of pounds of public money from the Scottish Government over recent years, despite the fact that we know that the experience of the workers at Amazon warehouses in Scotland is that they have been denied basic employment rights. We have heard reports of workers being forced to stand for hours on end, being denied paternity leave, and even being followed by managers into bathrooms. When I was a Westminster Parliament constituency member, many constituents came to see me who had travelled from Ayrshire to the Gourock warehouse only to be told that there was no work for them, or to be given one or two hours of work when they had expected a full day of work. They were paid only for those hours.

We have heard whistleblowers describing the conditions at Amazon as being those of a work camp. If the Scottish Government is serious about fair work principles, it must cut all ties with employers such as Amazon.

In recent months, Scotland has seen a wave—and it will continue to see a wave—of strike action across the public sector; indeed, there will be strike action in the Scottish Parliament building tomorrow. If the Scottish Government is serious, it needs to engage on fair pay and conditions with the trade unions that represent those workers.

I strongly welcome the debate, but the Scottish Government must do everything that it can to put its warm words into practice.

As the cabinet secretary said, we are talking about a small number of people. The current policy was devised in 2014 without the experiences and interests of women being taken into account. Will the cabinet secretary now withdraw the 2014 policy, put a hold on transfers and give an undertaking that there will be full scrutiny of the draft revised policy, including a debate in the chamber?

M&Co Trading, which had a head office in Renfrewshire and has branches across the West Scotland region and the rest of the UK, went into administration last month. What discussions has the Scottish Government had with the administrators and UK Government departments on the matter? Will the Scottish Government set up a task force to support the workforce and ensure that we do not have more empty shops in our town centres?

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I would have voted no.

The committee would find more data really helpful, as we have struggled to obtain it. Is it also possible to get data for each sheriff court, because it would be interesting to see whether there are different practices in different courts? Historically, that was definitely the case, but I do not know whether it remains the case. It would also be helpful to have data on offences, whether they fall under the summary or the solemn procedure. I appreciate that you may not be able to provide everything that we ask for, but more detail on either of those topics would also be appreciated.

I did not want to ask a question; I just wanted to explain that we have really struggled with obtaining data.

I have thrown everybody off—sorry.