By Lucy Ashton
Dame Jackie Baillie has backed a move to safeguard the rights of workers in her Dumbarton constituency.
Labour’s announcement that the party would move to ban zero hours contracts came as figures reveal more than 100,000 Scottish workers are now on this type of contract.
The move has attracted the support of Dumbarton constituency MSP Jackie Baillie, who is keen to see residents in Dumbarton, the Vale, Helensburgh and Lomond, offered secure working conditions.
“Too many workers, including those in my own constituency, are at the mercy of zero-hour contracts, which sees them removed from the government’s unemployment statistics and denies them any certainty in their employment.
“It is hard, especially in today’s economy, to plan life or pay your bills when you can’t rely on money coming in from one month to the next.
“It is clear that the increasing burden of the cost-of-living means something needs to be done to offer security to those in work.
“The SNP has failed to offer workers in my constituency – and across Scotland – the security they need and has turned its back on the pledge to deliver a crackdown on zero-hour contracts.
“The Tories in Westminster have done likewise, but a Labour government will offer the security these workers need by banning zero-hour contracts.”
Labour has pledged to Make Work Pay under its New Deal for Working People – strengthening the protection afforded to the workforce.
More than 100,000 workers in Scotland are now on a zero-hour contract – an increase of 47 per cent in the last year alone, with 35,000 more workers now under these contracts in April and June 2023, compared to the same time period in 2022.
The number of Scottish workers on these contracts has almost doubled under the SNP – with 109,000 now on them – an 88 per cent surge since 2014.
Top of page: Man at work, but no n one should be doing it on a zero contract.