THE Yes movement must persuade trade unions to back Scottish independence, SNP MP Tommy Sheppard has said.
He told the Sunday National that the Labour movement’s future would be more secure if political control was regained by Scotland rather than being “eternally dependent on the whims of the political elite at Westminster”.
He spoke out as the Tories attempt to bring in new restrictions on workers’ rights and after Labour leader Keir Starmer told his MPs not to appear on picket lines during the strikes organised by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) last week.
“Is that not just shocking for a leader of the Labour Party?” asked Sheppard. “A lot of people, starting with the rail workers, are going to realise there is not any prospect of things getting better on a UK level if you are just going to replace one Tory with another, so we might as well consider alternatives. Independence offers a fresh start and the chance – not a guarantee – but the chance to build a new society which is much more equal and where people do get a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.
“That is a discussion that the Yes movement needs to have with the trade unions, and we need to get them involved in the campaign. There is nothing inherently left wing about independence, but it puts power in your hands to do something better.”
Sheppard, inset, predicted there would be more industrial unrest to come. Teachers, nurses and other public sector
workers are all demanding wage rises to keep up with the rocketing cost of living, and he dismissed Tory arguments that wage rises must be kept down to control inflation.
“We have not got inflation because people have been getting big pay rises – that is just a complete rewriting of history,” he said. “The wages follow the prices, and you cannot expect people to just sit back and do nothing as the money they have to live on is severely cut in real terms.
“Trade unions were formed to defend ordinary working people from the ravages of the capitalist economy, and they are never going to be more relevant than when we have a cost of living crisis and prices spirally out of control.
“If employers don’t keep pace with inflation this is not going to go away. People deserve the pay they were getting a year ago and that means they have to get a pay increase to keep pace with inflation otherwise their pay is being cut.”
SHEPPARD said that if the most powerful trade unions were able to establish higher pay rises as the norm, that would benefit many workers who do not benefit from being in a unionised workplace.
“As wages begin to move up, then generally the non-unionised and lower paid sectors move in line with that,” he said. “The unions are doing us all a favour in many ways, and the RMT demands to me seem profoundly reasonable. They are actually asking for a wage increase which is less than inflation today, so even if they got everything they wanted, their members are still going to fall behind in real terms. I have never known such a reasonable claim to be honest, and it is not an answer to inequality to make a whole bunch of people even poorer.”
Green MSPs have also raised concerns about the restrictions on workers’ rights that are due to be proposed by the Tories this week and have
written to the UK Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, and the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Kwasi Kwarteng, to oppose them.
The Scottish Greens economy spokesperson, Maggie Chapman MSP, above, said: “Greens will do everything we can to defend workers’ rights here in Scotland, both within the powers available to the Scottish Parliament and as a cornerstone of our vision for independence. We will always stand in full solidarity with workers when their rights are so brazenly threatened.”
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Nikki Slowey, co-founder and director of Flexibility Works, which is funded and supported by the Scottish Government to help employers
introduce more flexible ways of working, said working conditions are important as well as pay.
“For employers, listening to their people is crucial,” she said. “Workers often have really good, sensible ideas for working differently, and managers don’t need to have all the answers up front. Unions certainly have a role to play in these conversations. But employers can, and should, talk to staff and seek their opinions even when they’re not unionised.
“The pandemic has changed everyone’s expectations about work and how that fits with life in general. The vast majority want more flexibility, or new ways of working that improve wellbeing, regardless of whether they’re an office worker, or in a frontline role.”
