Organisers and roving reps will provide worker support
Unions in Scotland will organise, support and resource “an army of organisers and roving reps” to ensure workers are fully empowered and supported over the coming months, the Scottish TUC (STUC) says.
It strongly welcomed a joint statement by the Scottish government, Police Scotland, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and local authorities that advises using union roving health and safety reps.
This states: “It is essential that employers also carry out a COVID-19 risk assessment. These should be developed where possible together with union health and safety representatives.
“For workplaces without union representation, union health and safety representatives will be available upon request to support the development of workplace risk assessments.”
The STUC’s red lines for relaxing the lockdown include a demand for the effective enforcement of physical distancing rules.
This recognises that a decade of austerity has undermined the capacity for inspection by local authorities.