COVID-19 Group

Prospect has continued to play a leading role in the bi-weekly meetings with Scottish Ministers. There has been significant progress on a number of issues this week.

The Scottish Government has now established a single point of contact in relation to workplace issues, which reps can use to pass information to the government about breaches of Scottish public health regulations in their workplace.

The email is [email protected]

Could I ask that any rep using this to report a breach also copy in their relevant Full Time Official, and Prospect Scotland at [email protected]

Because enforcement of any current and future regulations are vital to creating a plan for a return to workplaces and a move to recover the economy, the STUC has quite rightly been focussing a lot on this as the discussions with ministers have moved over the last fortnight towards looking at recovery.

Prospect has been asked to lead on this for the STUC and I will be joining meetings with ministers, officials, regulators and industry on this from next week.

If you are having issues relating to the enforcement of workplace guidance at present, please do let both your relevant Full Time Official know and also pass the information to me at [email protected] so it can inform our discussions with ministers.

A set of guidelines for moving out of lockdown for the manufacturing sector is also starting to be discussed, and again Prospect is part of the joint working group on this issue, which is likely to form a blueprint for other sectors. The first meeting of this group is on Monday.

We have also continued to press the government in relation to testing for key workers, on contact tracing, of the provision of PPE to key workers, and to workers who will start to return at the immediate end of lockdown.

These are key issues which will influence how we are able as a society to move forward from lockdown. It is my understanding that testing for civil servants working for Scottish Ministers is now available.

Other Issues

The STUC is today launching its campaign for improved pay for key workers across all sectors. Many of those workers, who are playing a key role in keeping us safe and keeping the country running, are paid below the national average, including a number of Prospect members. Prospect supports the campaign and we’ll keep you updated as it develops.

The UK Government has launched a free online skills training site called The Skills Toolkit. While it might not be relevant for all Prospect members it’s worth a quick look to see if there is anything your or your family can use.

Our General Secretary Mike Clancy held a couple of briefing sessions with reps via Zoom recently, if you missed them, you can watch one of the here.

Prospect Scotland was also involved in a webinar on Just Transition which can be seen here, and I wrote a blog relating to the webinar too.

We continue to support our members at Prestwick Aircraft Maintenance in respect of their employers unreasonable demands to cut wages, this week we will be lodging grievances and potential Sheriffs Court actions for unlawful deductions from wages. We understand that essential work must continue, but employers shouldn’t use the phrase “essential work” as a cover for profiteering at the risk to our members health.

Stay Safe and enjoy the weekend as much as you can