Scottish Labour’s leader has claimed the “status quo” of austerity means the “poorest people” are suffering.
In a speech to the Scottish Trades Union Congress meeting in Dundee, Kezia Dugdale criticised the UK Government’s Trade Union Bill for “unprecedented attacks” on unions’ rights which “go further than even Margaret Thatcher attempted in the 1980s”.
She also claimed Labour was the “main party advocating” a “different course” in Scottish politics.
She said: “We don’t just want to oppose, so I can announce that we will bring forward a Work and Trade Union Bill – a bill worthy of its name.
“It will recognise the positive role of trade unions in the economy, in creating better workplaces, in increasing productivity, in building a fair economy.”
After her address to the conference at the Caird Hall, Aberdeen-born Ms Dugdale added: “We know that everybody feels the pain of austerity.
“But we also know the poorest pay the heaviest price for austerity and I think that’s felt every time a service is cut, every time we lose project workers and classroom assistants and teachers.
“It’s the poorest people that suffer. I’m here in the city today with a very clear alternative to that.
“If you want to continue with the way things have always been, if you want the status quo to carry on, pick between the SNP and the Tories.
“If you want to chart a different course and accept that we can stop the cuts, that we can use the powers, that we can grow the economy and spend more on public services then the main party advocating that at this election is the Labour Party.”
In her address to the conference today, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will float the possibility of funding to support union modernisation.
She will admit she “cannot pledge to undo all of the damage that the Tories are doing” with the Trade Union Bill but will promise action to ensure unions can operate effectively in Scotland.
The SNP leader will say her party will continue to do everything it can to disrupt the Bill, currently going through the House of Commons.
She is expected to say: “It would be an outrage if the ability of the Scottish Government to work constructively with trade unions was curtailed by the anti-union ideology of the Tories.”
