Writing for the Daily Record, former Scottish Labour general secretary Michael Sharpe has accused the party of delivering a 'slap in the face' to trade unions over workers' rights.
Labour members and trade unionists last week marked the birthday of Keir Hardie, the Lanarkshire-born miner who founded the Labour Party and was a pioneering advocate of workers' rights. Had he been around to blow out his 167 candles, he may have been shocked by some changes from the Scotland he knew, but perhaps not the treatment of many workers.
The Scottish anomaly of having a greater proportion of workers on zero-hours contracts than any other country in the UK is just one of the areas of workers' rights which successive Scottish Labour leaders have argued could be improved by devolving employment laws to Holyrood. Giving the Scottish Parliament power to increase upon - but not cut below - UK wide workers' rights has also been supported by the trade unions who fund the party and has been backed by members too.
Scottish politics This is a betrayal of the "party of devolution" and a slap in the face to the trade unions who have campaigned for this for many years. It is also a missed opportunity to improve the lives of working people in Scotland - none more so than the 109,000 on zero-hours contracts.
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