Of our week-long series Still unclear what ‘worrying’ freeports mean for workers, says STUC general secretary
THE leader of Scotland’s largest trade union body has warned the industry is “still no clearer” to what green freeports “mean for workers on the ground”.
Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) general secretary Roz Foyer told The National that “no amount of spin, window dressing or green washing can hide” the Scottish Government’s “worrying misstep” surrounding the launch of the first green freeports in Scotland.
“More than a year on from the announcement, we are still no clearer on what these freeports will mean for workers on the ground,” she said.
“Unions have consistently pressed the government on how they will enforce fair work standards across the sites, in addition to ensuring all workers across the ports will receive at least the Real Living Wage.”
The comments come amid our week-long series on Scotland’s green freeports after an overwhelming amount of reader interest and concern.
Inverness and Cromarty Firth green freeport and Forth green freeport were announced as Scotland’s two winning bids in January last year through the scheme agreed by the Scottish and UK governments.
The port status can provide special tax incentives and lower tariffs, with the aim of stimulating economic growth. Critics, including Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer, highlight the experimental nature of the ports. Greer also argued that diverging from the EU’s “minimum standards” on trade would hamper Scotland’s chances for rejoining the EU.
Greer further told The National: “What freeports did, more often than not, was displace jobs rather than create new jobs. You had companies who already were operating within the UK, who simply moved their operations to the areas that the freeports were in. So there was no net benefit. No new jobs were being created, but there was a net loss of tax revenue. So that’s a net loss for public services.”
However, in a recent appearance at Scotonomics’ Festival of Economics, the Scottish Government’s Energy and Environment Minister Gillian Martin said assurances for fair work was “baked into the contracts”, highlighting the name change.
The minister was asked by an