The STUC is calling on UK and Scottish
Governments to end austerity and instead
invest in public services and pay a Living
Wage to ensure a 'better today and more
prosperous tomorrow for Scotland’s
people'.
And it urged the Scottish Government
to 'change its mind' and use its procurement
rules to insist that contractors pay the
Living Wage.
UNISON's Margaret Cook told delegates:
"Over half of the 13 million people
in poverty in the UK actually came from
working families. Statistics like this
should not exist – or be allowed
to become even more grave. We must take
action."
"We need to put people back to work
and make sure the work they do pays enough
to live on. One obvious way to start doing
that is to adequately fund our public
services.
Not attack them through cuts as the Westminster
government has or leave them to wither
on the vine by refusing to raise money
for them as the Scottish government has",
said Margaret.
"I am proud to come from a Local
Authority who pay the living Wage ensuring
that workers are rewarded for the efforts
which they put in. People should not be
working yet still be unable to get by.
People should not be working tirelessly
and yet unable to provide for themselves
and their families."
Margaret was moving a UNISON Scotland
motion as part of a composite with Aberdeen
TUC. The motion said; "Congress believes
that investment in adequately funded public
services is the most cost effective method
for overcoming these problems. In addition
to the immediate social benefit, properly
funded public services can provide a source
of decently paid employment and training,
boosting demand in local economies."
It called on governments to:-
- commit to ending the decline in real
wages of workers in public services;
- work to ensure that Living Wage provisions
are at the heart of public procurement
regimes; and
- make increasing ordinary workers’
share of Scotland’s wealth through
increased wages a key priority of social,
industrial and economic strategy.
Margaret said: "Our tax dodger owned
media and the Tory Government in Westminster
are intent on perpetuating a myth that
those experiencing poverty are “lazy”
and “Scroungers”. We must
continue to mount high profile campaigns
against this.
"UNISON’s has our “Worth
it” initiative – this aims
to show the real life stories behind the
wage freezes and cuts. We are moving this
into a new phase of collecting more stories
from members in order for each worker
to stand up and say that they are worth
more than the situation they find themselves
in. We need to continue with initiatives
like this in order to ensure that every
worker receives the living wage.
"One big step forward to would be
if all public sector contracts had to
include a Living Wage stipulation."
The Scottish Government refused to put
this stipulation into its procurement
legislation.
"Saying that they will do what they
can with regulations once they have passed
the legislation isn’t good enough.
The Scottish Government still has a chance
to change its mind on this one and we
must use every opportunity to try and
get them to do so", said Margaret.
"We need to give chances to our
young people – we need to put people
back to work and make sure that employment
means a living wage. This composite outlines
some of the ways that can be done."
