First Minister urged to halt taxpayer money going to companies refusing to pay workers minimum wage

Nicola Sturgeon has been urged to help low-paid workers by banning companies given public cash from using zero-hours contracts.

The Scottish Government’s Fair Work First policy sees conditions attached to workers’ pay and conditions for firms seeking grants or public contracts. These include paying employees the living wage. But the country’s biggest union says the policy does not go far enough by only saying there should be no “inappropriate” use of zero-hours contracts.

Workers do not know how many hours they will work from week to week and their shifts can be cancelled at short notice.

Unite Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty said: “There is a great deal of confusion on what determines whether a company gets public funds through an enterprise agency grant or on what grounds is a company refused a public procurement contract through Fair Work First.

“From Unite’s perspective, any use is inappropriate, and the government should be pledging to ban the use of these contracts, as Scottish Labour has done, instead of leaving a back-door open.”

The Scottish Government said: “We firmly oppose the inappropriate use of zero-hours contracts and are helping employers adopt fair work practices.

“We are using all the levers available to make fair work the norm in Scottish workplaces. Our Fair Work First approach attaches fair work criteria to as many of our grants, funding streams, and public contracts as possible – this includes no inappropriate use of zero-hours contracts.”

Mr Rafferty said Unite had sought assurances from Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing that food processing company Bhagat Holdings would not use zero-hours contracts. It has taken over the site of the former Pinneys seafood plant in Annan, and been given a £1.7 million grant by Scottish Enterprise.

Mr Rafferty said: “Unite is pleased that around 120 much-needed jobs are likely to be created in this rural community, but at the same time we have to demand that in return for taxpayers’ money, zero-hours contracts will be banned.”

The Scottish Government said: “Fair Work First criteria was introduced to Regional Selective Assistance by Scottish Enterprise in April. The grant award to Bhagat Holdings was made prior to this, but Bhagat has previously stated its commitment to the fair work principles through its plans to pay all employees at least the real living wage.”