Remember, you can join The National for just £1 for three months with our exclusive offer for newsletter subscribers.

THE reality of Labour’s New Deal for Working People has been up in the air over recent days, amid reports that ministers are looking at “watering down” the deal.

The package, which aims to reform workers' rights and which Labour previously pledged to implement within 100 days of being in government, includes a higher sick pay rate, the end of “fire and rehire” and the banning of zero-hour contracts.

Trade unionists in Scotland have warned Labour leader Keir Starmer against U-turning on the policy, whilst Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar recommitted to the policy at the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) annual congress just last month.

And today, Starmer met with trade union bosses to update them on Labour’s plans for workers’ rights, insisting that the New Deal will still be implemented “as agreed in July” – therefore denying any reports that the deal will be weakened.

A joint statement from the Labour Party and Tulo (Trade Union and Labour Party Liaison Organisation) following Tuesday’s meeting said: “Labour and the affiliated unions had a constructive discussion today.

“Together we have reiterated Labour’s full commitment to the New Deal for Working People, as agreed in July.

“We will continue to work together at pace on how a Labour government would implement it in legislation.”

The meeting comes as one boss has seen his pay double within the last year. Ken Murphy, CEO at Tesco, received a pay package worth £9.93 million for the year to February, compared with £4.44 million for the previous financial year.

'There is still a mountain to climb’

In other news, analysis of fresh figures from the Office for National Statistics found that between December to February and January to March, employment fell by 1.1%, unemployment increased by 0.4% and economic activity increased by 0.8%.

The data also showed that 70,000 workers in Scotland remain on zero-hour contracts. Over the same period there was a fall in full-time workers, a rise in part-time workers and a rise in temporary workers with figures showing 136,000 temporary workers in Scotland in the last quarter of 2023.

The STUC warned that the figures show the Scottish Government has a “mountain to climb” if Scotland is to be a Fair Work Nation by 2025.

Commenting, Roz Foyer, general secretary of the STUC, said: “These figures show that the Scottish labour market still faces serious challenges which must be a priority for the new Scottish Government.

“They will have a serious mountain to climb if they don’t knuckle down and dedicate the proper funding or governmental focus to help us reach our Fair Work goals.”

She added that making Scotland a Fair Work Nation should be a priority of the new Government, pointing out that the phrase was dropped from ministerial job titles in the latest cabinet reshuffle.

Industrial reaction

More than 500 workers at the Dounreay nuclear power plant, located on the north coast of Caithness in the Highlands, will walk out on Wednesday over a pay dispute.

Unite the Union said workers voted to reject a revised pay offer, which proposed a one-off £500 payment on top of a 4.5% wage increase. The union said the offer reflected a “real-terms pay cut”.