The Fair Work Convention has published its ‘Fair Work in Scotland’ report. It is the first report from the Fair Work Convention to analyse and consider progress against the dimensions of Fair Work. The report finds that faster progress on fair work is urgently needed if Scotland is to become a Fair Work Nation by 2025.

This report presents the Fair Work Convention’s Fair Work Measurement Framework which monitors Scotland’s progress towards becoming a Fair Work Nation.

The Report reveals that that disabled workers, ethnic minorities, women and young workers often experience poorer work outcomes and are often more heavily concentrated in precarious and low paid work.  It also highlights the significant challenges across all of the dimensions of fair work which the COVID-19 crisis is presenting, reinforcing the need for decisive action.

Amongst other things, the Report found that in the 5-year period prior to the COVID-19 crisis:

• there has been no improvement in access to flexible working;
• there has been no improvement in the number of illnesses caused by work;
• the use of zero hours contracts has increased;
• effective use of skills in the workplace has decreased;
• workers’ participation in workplace learning has decreased; and
• trade union membership has decreased.

More positively, the Report found that:

• the proportion of people earning less than the real living wage has decreased;
• the overall measure of employment security has improved;
• levels of participation in involuntary non-permanent work and involuntary part-time work have improved
• the gender and ethnicity pay gaps have narrowed; and
• collective bargaining coverage has increased.

In light of these findings, the Convention makes several recommendations which it believes are necessary if Scotland is to achieve the collective vision of a Fair Work Nation by 2025. These recommendations include a demand for joint action by the Scottish Government, employers and unions:

• focused on improving the experience of workers in sectors where fair work performance is poorest, including Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing; Construction; Retail; Hospitality and Care;
• to improve the experience of fair work for disabled workers, ethnic minorities, women and young workers;
• to make fair work a condition of all public funding available to employers as a means of improving and embedding higher standards of fair work policy and practice;
• to improve workers’ access to training and the more effective use of their skills; and
• to give more workers access to ‘voice’ arrangements at work, including union membership, with a particular focus on young workers and those participating in the Young Persons Guarantee.

The Fair Work Convention also recommends that Scottish Government invest in improving the quality of workplace data, particularly as it relates to workers with protected characteristics.