The billionaire press are keen on rubbishing anything that sounds even remotely ambitious as impossible or pie in the sky – but Labour’s plans are the opposite. They are thought through and practical responses to the problems we face.  Here’s just one easy example – When labour announced a 20 year plan two plant 2 billion trees it was met with howls of disbelief and outrage and cries of it can’t be done. But let’s take a look and see how the mass media rubbishing stands up to scrutiny… 

First off you are growing trees – what is being planted are seeds or saplings.

2 billion sounds a lot. but any competent planter can do over 1000 in an hour
(…the world record is 15 000 – but let’s go with the 1k)

So that’s employing one person for one hour 1000 trees planted.
Employing just 300 people – that’s 300k trees – in one hour. 
If those 300 folk work a seven hour day. That’s 2.1million trees. In 1 day.
If they work a five day week. That’s 10.5 million trees in a week.
If they only plant trees for 30 weeks a year. That’s 315 million trees in a year.
So employing just 300 people – delivers over 15% of the target in a year.
…and it’s a twenty year target.
Oh and if you are wondering where there would be space for them all – the entirety takes up just a little bit more 2.7% of land mass than the amount of ground currently covered by golf courses (2.5%).
This is like Labour’s other policies – reasonable, doable, and necessary.

Nothing shows up the failure of our economy that while Tory and SNP manifestos can boast about their being record numbers in jobs or of having a high employment rate. At the same time we face a crisis of in work poverty and insecurity. Too many people find their work makes their life more difficult not less, causing anxiety, stress and fear for the future.

It doesn’t need to be like this – and Labour will change things

Labour will ban zero hours contracts and fix minimum hours. Labour will strengthen the law so that anyone working regular hours for more than 12 weeks will have a right to a contract reflecting those hours. People who have worked irregular hours for 12 weeks will also be protected by being able to transition to a regular hours contract if they wish. Regardless of what happens with Brexit Labour will not allow UK law to fall below the standards of the EU Directive on Transparent and Predictable Working Time of June 2019. 

Labour will require cancelled shifts to be paid and proper notice given for changes in hours. This will mean that all workers get proper notice of their working hours so they can plan their life. Employers’ flexibility doesn’t have to leave people worse off; if people are asked to work extra hours, they will be paid at a higher rate. This will encourage employers to be realistic in setting working hours. This still allows flexibility for employers where needed, but not at the expense of their workforce having unpredictable hours and earnings.
 
Labour will give everyone full and equal rights from day one at work, whether part-time or full-time, temporary or permanent. We will end the qualifying time for basic rights, such as unfair dismissal, sick pay and parental leave to end the arbitrary unfairness in of the system.

Labour will end bogus self-employment by creating a new, single “worker” status. This will cover everyone except for the genuinely self-employed in business on their own account. This will simplify and clarify the law, making it easier for employers and people to understand, reducing costly litigation. Labour will prevent the status of worker being evaded by artificial payroll companies or agency working and ban overseas-only recruitment practices.
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Ensure justice for migrant domestic workers, by ensuring they are workers with full rights, able to change employer, so ending this form of modern slavery. We will restore the overseas domestic workers’ visa.

Read Labour's full Manifesto for Workers Rights

The future of our working lives is at stake in this election. Labour will tackle poverty pay, ensure decency in the work place and improve work – life balance. Only Labour have clear plans not just to tackle current workplace injustices, but empower workers to face the challenges needed to adapt to tackling climate change and the challenge of automation.

Scottish Labour’s commitments to workers is the far reaching and comprehensive set of proposals that is needed to tackle the crisis facing us. The Tories, and SNP boast of record numbers in work but as Richard Leonard points out “it’s not like there is a blight of unemployment which is fuelling poverty – there is a blight of low pay fuelling poverty and we need to tackle that as a matter of priority”.

Some measures will have immediate impacts – like a £10 per hour minimum wage, a ban on zero hours contracts, pay for cancelled shifts and higher pay for extended hours,  equal employment rights from day one, an ending of bogus self employment, improved maternity and paternity rights and making resources available for a 5% increase public sector employment.

Whilst these are welcome moves and will improve millions of lives.  There are other more structural measures which will give workers a voice – collectively and effectively. Labour will repeal anti-trade union legislation, including the Conservatives’ undemocratic Trade Union Act 2016, and create new rights and freedoms for trade union unions to help them win a better deal for working people.

There will be a Ministry of Employment Rights at the heart of government. Amongst other things this will oversee a rolling out sectoral collective bargaining of standards in each sector of the economy.

This means in each industry employers and trade unions will be brought together to negotiate minimum standards. This will include a whole range of issues; pay scales, hours, holidays, promotion, training, health and well-being and equality policies. No longer will terms be dictated on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis. Instead there will be ‘a rate for the job’.

Labour will require employers to devise and implement plans to eradicate the gender pay gap and pay inequalities underpinned by race and/or disability – or face fines.  After 50 years of equal pay legislation, Labour will make the law work to ensure equal pay for work of equal value. This will include requiring all employers with over 250 employees to obtain government certification on gender equality or face further auditing and fines. Women will no longer be penalised by secretive pay and bonus setting. By the end of 2020, that threshold will be lowered to workplaces with 50 employees.

This is the strongest set of proposals to empower people at work ever proposed. No other party is contemplating anything like this because no other party has trade unions at it core. For those seeking better, fairer working lives only a Labour vote can deliver. 

Trade unions, councillors and others gathered at the Scottish Parliament on Budget Day to protest against the SNP budget that slashes allocations to Scottish councils. Shunting Tory austerity to local community services. 

The Scottish Government is always claiming it needs more powers. But when it gets them, it refuses to use them. Claims to be the anti-austerity party have been shown to be simply rhetoric.

Scottish Labour today announced a bold new plan to tackle austerity. 

A plan to avoid SNP cuts to local budgets and invest in the future:

• We are calling on the SNP Government to set an 11p Scottish rate of income tax in the budget for 2016/17 - 1p higher than that proposed by George Osborne and John Swinney.
• Independent expert analysis confirms our proposal would raise almost half a billion pounds every year to avoid planned cuts to education and other vital local public services, and allow something to be given back to low income workers.

How would it work?

• This is a progressive policy - some of us will pay a little more, the wealthiest will pay the most, but we will all gain from protecting our children’s schools and vital public services.
• One in four workers will pay no more, and one in five taxpayers will end up better off financially.
• Someone on a salary of around £30,000 a year would pay less than £4 a week extra under this plan.
• By contrast, someone on the same £144,687 wage as the First Minister would pay an extra £28 a week (£1,447 a year).
• Under our plan 810,000 workers in Scotland will not lose a single penny.
• Taxpayers earning less than £20,000 will receive a £100 annual boost to their income, through a payment scheme administered by local authorities.
• This would cost just £50 million of the £500 million this change will raise but means that we can boost the incomes of low paid workers.

Given the choice between using the Scottish Parliament's new powers or making cuts, Scottish Labour chooses to use the powers. This is the real alternative to austerity. Not just talking about opposing austerity - but taking action.

On Wednesday trade unions will join councillors in lobbying the Scottish Parliament against the cuts before they debate the budget.

Here is Unite's press release. Unite Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty said: “Make no mistake our councils are being force fed an austerity agenda that’s been manufactured by the Tories in Westminster but delivered by the Scottish government. Invidious choices are being made across the country but the blame will ultimately come back to the Scottish government unless it is prepared to co-operate with councils and trade unions now to explore alternatives." 

UNISON's press release and MSP briefing. And Dave Watson's blog post.

GMB press release.

​Ken Dugdale's speech. She said:"So please… let’s put aside party politics, let’s come together and do the right thing for Scotland’s future. In the choice between using our powers and cutting Scotland’s future, we choose to use our powers."

The SNP’s budget confirmed major cuts to local authority budgets – which means cuts to the budgets for schools, roads and care of the elderly. Cuts to our councils are cuts to our communities. Austerity is being shunted down to communities in an attempt to pass the buck from SNP ministers desks.

​A classic Tory budget was how Brian Wilson described it in the Scotsman: 

"The really offensive part of Swinney’s budget is how he passed the burden of pain to local authorities, the traditional Tory whipping-boys. It takes a second to talk about a £500 million or 3.5 per cent cut. But this is brutal stuff which the weakest will live with daily. These numbers translate into home helps, day centres, special needs schools, classroom assistants, public libraries, sports centres… all the services which councils provide for those who need them to achieve a reasonable standard of life."

and on the Council tax freeze:

"Every difficult issue has been ducked with the council-tax freeze a prime example. It hurts the poor, because of service cuts, while those who save most – and depend least on public services – love it. So whose interests take priority? Osborne allowed councils to raise extra cash predicated for social care. Would even that have been too radical for Swinney?"

Council leaders warned that 15,000 local authority jobs will be lost as a result of cuts imposed by the Scottish budget for 2016-17.

CoSLA President David O'Neil said:

"A cut of 3.5% is catastrophic for jobs and services within Scottish local government - because the harsh reality is that it actually translates to real job cuts that hit real families, in real communities throughout Scotland. Everyone will be hurt by this."

​STULP Secretary Dave Watson analyses the budget in his blog and said:

"If yesterday’s budget is “a Scottish response to austerity” then we are in very deep trouble. A response to austerity has to be more than simply administering George Osborne’s efforts to wreck our public services."