Protect Scotland’s Pubs

It is estimated that there are nearly 1000 tied pubs in Scotland with one in almost every community. Tied pubs are those ‘tied’ into rent arrangements with large owning companies – often known as ‘pubcos’.

Under the current arrangements, these tenants often have a contractual obligation to buy some or all of their products from the pubco at inflated prices. This can restrict the choice of beer, cider, wine and spirits available for customers and result in more expensive drinks.

From my experience meeting with Tied Pub tenants in my own West Scotland region, I know how one-sided these tied arrangements can be. Many tied pub tenants have described the difficultly in making a profit with increasing rents and prices. Some have also described their frustration at being unable to sell local products, which are popular with customers and support their communities.

In May 2016, a Pubs Code and Adjudicator alongside a Market Rent Only option was introduced in England and Wales to give more freedom to tied pub tenants there. It will give tied pub tenants the potential opportunity to opt out of their tied arrangements should they wish and ensure they pay a fair market price for their premises.

A new voluntary code was recently introduced in Scotland, but is not adhered to by all pub companies and does not go as far as the statutory code in England and Wales.

Under the current arrangements, Scottish tied pub tenants are unfairly disadvantaged compared with their counterparts in other parts of the UK. That’s why I have launched a consultation on a proposed Tied Pubs (Code and Adjudicator) (Scotland) Bill to make conditions fairer for tied pub tenants in Scotland.

My Bill would establish a Scottish Pub Code and Adjudicator alongside a Market Rent Only option like the one currently in place in England and Wales, giving Scottish tied publicans the same rights and opportunities as those south of the border.

This Bill is about three key things: fairness, choice and jobs. Fairness for Scotland’s publicans so that they pay a fair price for their premises and the products they sell; greater choice over the products on sale and the creation and protection of jobs in Scotland’s pub and brewing industry.

Times are tough in the pub sector in Scotland with many local community pubs under threat of closure.

Access to a fair and reasonable market rent for premises, without strings attached, should be a right for Scottish publicans. By enabling Scottish tied pub tenants the opportunity to opt out of their tied arrangements if they wish, this will provide them with the flexibility they need to react to changes affecting their business in a crowded and competitive market place. It would also provide customers with a greater choice of products at potentially lower prices.

As GMB Scotland Organiser Martin Doran has said, with greater protection for workers in the industry as well as the potential opportunity to create lots of new jobs, this proposal would provide a much needed boost to Scotland’s pub and brewing industry.

It is for all of the aforementioned reasons that this bill already has the support of several organisations including GMB Scotland, Scottish Licensed Trade Association and the Campaign for Real Ale.

The consultation will be open until the 20^th of June 2017 and I would ask everyone who is passionate about their local pub and the wider pub industry in Scotland to respond. The more responses received, the more momentum we can get behind this Bill which would ensure a fairer deal for Scotland’s publicans.

For more information on the Proposed Bill and to respond to the consultation please visit our campaign website at: www.protectourpubs.scot.

Neil Bibby MSP | West Scotland | Labour

A day without migrants: 20/2

On 22nd Sept 2016, a social media campaign was launched in Egypt by the International Organization for migration: ‘A Day Without Migrants,’. 

The aim was to highlight the real and positive impacts that migrants have on the host communities. Matt Carr, a freelance print and radio journalist, has urged migrants and their supporters to join in for a day of action on 20th February 2017 (20/2). He felt that the main triggers for this event were overpowering concern about worsening attitudes to migrants in the UK (Taylor D. (2016) the Guardian).

From the ambiguous idea that some sort of protest should be mounted, it is now taking a life of its own in calling for actions to support migrants’ right across the UK. A Day Without migrants is a National Day of Action on 20th Feb 2017 (20/2) to celebrate the contribution of migrants to the UK, to coincide with UN World Day of Social Justice.

Just imagine for 24 hours, migrants from inside and outside the European Union, and everyone who supports them, celebrate the contribution that migrants make, including a labour boycott to demonstrate how important migrants are to the UK workforce.

The aim of the day of action is to emphasise the varieties of work migrants undertake to help keep the UK economy afloat – from the NHS, to the hospitality sector, to harvesting fruits and vegetables in the fields. The work too often is low paid and involves long hours. The organisers say a day without migrant labour can demonstrate how much the economy would struggle without their contribution.

Who is a migrant?

A migrant is any person living in a country other than where they were born. The number of international migrants in 2015 reached 244 million. (International Migration Report UN 2015). Women comprise slightly less than half of all international migrants worldwide representing 48% of global movement. Most migrants worldwide are of working age. As a result of this faster growth rate, the share of migrants in the total population reached 3.3 per cent in 2015. Many migrants living in Scotland have taken up citizenship. 

Why do we need 20/2?

In spite of the many benefits of migration, migrants themselves remain among the most vulnerable members of society. They often work with no job security on zero hours contracts and are often the first to lose their job in the event of an economic downturn, often working for less pay, for longer hours, and in worse conditions than national workers. 

While for many migration is an empowering experience, others endure human rights violations, abuse and discrimination. Migrants, particularly women and children, are too often victims of human trafficking and the heinous forms of exploitation that human trafficking entails. Further, in many parts of the world, migration remains one of the few options for people, particularly young people, to find decent work, provide for their families and escape poverty, persecution and violence.

What are we hoping to achieve?

A few days without migrant workers here could bring life to a halt soon enough. Migrant workers are found in both high skilled and low skilled industries. We can made a quick mental note of many ways on how we all depend on migrant labour: what if there were no au pairs/ cleaners/ house keepers working long hours so that thousands of professional women can get to work early and come home late; no migrants to sweep out the train/bus station concourses and opening their coffee shops before dawn; no cheap foreign contract cleaners in the financial centres/ hotels of the City; no foreign car washers for the executive cars; no overseas carers in the old people's homes; no Polish plumbers to fix the leaks; no Ukrainian builders on the construction sites; no Brazilians in the sandwich shops; no South Africans to pack the supermarket fruit and veg, and lets not talk about the many thousands of consultants, doctors/ GPs, nurses, care assistants and cleaners who work in our NHS helping cover the gaps caused by lack of Government funding. You can go on and on and on……you can create your own list of the debt we all owe to newly arrived workers who make our lives easier (Lawrence F.(2006) the Guardian). 

What are we to do on 20/2? Well here is a website with a link to a face book page: http://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/glasgows-migrant-populations-called-take-12007398

We were asked to post a selfie supporting this day and take a day off, if you can and let’s all pause to reflect on the contribution that migrants make to Scotland. 

Sofi Taylor
STUC Black Workers’ Committee

There is no place for any form of racist or religious prejudice in modern Scotland- Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister

I am very pleased to support the “No Racism: Protecting Rights, Defending Communities” Anti-Racism March and Rally 2016. 

Scotland is a diverse country, and cultural attitudes have created a climate where diversity is increasingly recognised, accepted, celebrated. Individuals and communities are becoming more comfortable in demonstrating their multifaceted identities. 

The outcome of the EU Referendum has caused understandable anxiety within the EU community, and I am alert to the fact that our communities are feeling more vulnerable. Let me be clear there is no place for any form of racist or religious prejudice in modern Scotland and it will not be tolerated. 

We have made it crystal clear that the 181,000 EU nationals who have chosen to make their home here in Scotland are welcome and their contribution is valued. We will continue to press the UK Government to guarantee the residency status of fellow EU nationals who have made Scotland their home.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling hate crime and we will continue to work with communities to create a Scotland which celebrates diversity and creates equality of opportunity for everyone. 

We have established a strong framework and enforcement of legislation, including tackling antisocial behaviour; threatening or abusive behaviour and racially aggravated harassment. We have published a Race Equality Framework which will run until 2030 to take a long term approach towards improving outcomes for Scotland’s ethnic minority communities. 

This event is an important reminder of the need to be vigilant about the threat racism poses to our communities and I commend the STUC and their partners for the leadership they have shown on this vital issue for many years I would like to send my best wishes to everyone taking part. 

Nicola Sturgeon

First Minister 

For details of the St Andrew's Day Anti-Racism March see the STUC Website or the St Andrew's Day Facebook Page

In this most turbulent of years, we must stand firmly against racism- Kezia Dugdale, Scottish Labour Party

Last year, the annual St Andrew's Day March sent a powerful message that refugees are welcome in Scotland.

A humanitarian tragedy was unfolding across the globe, and the STUC led the charge for those of us who believe in compassion.

Since then, our world has witnessed one of the most turbulent years in living memory.

Along with the STUC I campaigned for Britain to remain in the EU, but the referendum result did not go our way.

It was disappointing not least because of the economic consequences, such as the detrimental impact on the Scottish jobs and investment that the STUC fights for every single day.

But it was equally distressing because of the rise our country has witnessed in hate crime. 

The vote across the UK was a result of years of growing distance between people with power and the people who power is exercised upon, yet there were those in the Leave campaign who used EU migrants as scapegoats.

Since June, an argument about the future of our country has been reduced to the sickening sight of Tory MPs arguing over whether EU migrants get to stay in our country, with increasingly xenophobic rhetoric seeping out from around Theresa May’s Cabinet table.

Across the Pond, the recent US presidential election brought out an even darker side of humanity, and the divisions caused by Donald Trump’s racist campaign will take years to heal.

Scottish Labour stands against those who wish to divide us, and stands firmly against racism wherever it may be found.

Scotland has a proud record of tolerance, but we must never be complacent and pretend to ourselves that our nation is immune to racism and hatred.

Kezia Dugdale MSP,

Leader of the Scottish Labour Party

For details of the St Andrew's Day Anti-Racism March see the STUC Website or the St Andrew's Day Facebook Page

What’s it like Being Jewish in Scotland in your workplace?

A few years ago, at one of the social events SCoJeC runs in all parts of Scotland, a young mother told us that when her daughter was being taunted by other children that  “you killed Christ”, she did what any mother would do and went to discuss it with the teacher; the teacher’s response was, “What are you complaining about? – you did!” The dean of a medical school told a Jewish student that if she persisted in observing Shabbat they would “think twice about taking people with your kind of name”, and a six-former who was given a shower cap as a gift was told that the “joke” was that it was to wear in the gas chamber.

These stories so horrified the Scottish Government Community Safety Unit that they wanted to know just how typical these experiences are, and they commissioned our inquiry into “Being Jewish in Scotland”, which reported in 2012. We traveled round the country, collecting personal stories and giving Jewish people an opportunity to feel a sense of belonging, often for the very first time, and although there were concerns about grotesque parodies of religious beliefs and practices being peddled in schools, discrimination and abuse in universities, and the lack of culturally sensitive welfare provision, in general Jewish people felt they were “lucky to be Scottish and Jewish. I wouldn’t change either if I had to be born again”.

Sadly, that changed barely a year later. During one month in August 2014, we received almost as many reports of antisemitic incidents as we had in the whole of the previous year. Last year, a Jewish health worker told us, “I’m scared to tell people at work that I’m Jewish – I talk about going to church instead of synagogue”. Two young mothers in Edinburgh told us they no longer allow their children to walk to synagogue, or to speak Hebrew in the street. So many Jewish people said that they felt uncomfortable, anxious and even afraid to go about their day-to-day activities that the Scottish Government asked us to carry out a second study of how the experience of Being Jewish in Scotland had changed.

This time the findings were extremely sobering: no fewer than 10% of respondents could not think of anything at all good about being Jewish in Scotland. 17% said they “considered it risky to show my Jewish identity in public”. Some had changed their conduct to avoid Jewish gatherings including synagogue services, or for the first time had “seriously talked about an exit strategy for leaving Scotland.” This inquiry was dominated by expressions of insecurity and alienation, and 80% attributed this to attitudes to events in the Middle East. Most tellingly, the person who said in 2012 that “Scotland’s a darn fine place to be a Jew” now told us “I feel alienated – no longer Scottish first then Jewish; I feel Jewish only.”

The Scottish Government is taking these concerns seriously, and is supporting SCoJeC’s work to ensure that Jewish people in Scotland feel safe, supported, and well integrated. The First Minister told a packed communal meeting that "I don't want to be the First Minister, or even live in, a country where Jewish people want to leave or hide their identity", and she repeated that statement publicly at a national conference on hate crime.

Scottish Jews are here to stay, and the Scottish Government is working with us to overcome their feelings of negativity and alienation. Can everyone say the same? Is your own workplace “a darn fine place to be a Jew”?

Ephraim Borowski

Director,

Scottish Council of Jewish Communities

For details of the St Andrew's Day Anti-Racism March see the STUC Website or the St Andrew's Day Facebook Page

The racist tide will only be driven back by anti-racists standing up and confronting it- Talat Ahmed, Stand Up to Racism, Scotland

A racist offensive is sweeping Europe, with governments and the right-wing media using migrants, refugees and Muslims as scapegoats for an economic crisis and wars they did not create.

The recent demolition of the refugee camp in Calais is just the latest example of a grotesque society that demonizes the victims of war and persecution. Despite this, thousands of people including around three hundred unaccompanied minors are stranded in Calais. Some of these children have been faced with the trauma of seeing their temporary homes destroyed – by fire or demolition.

Volunteers in Calais report that there are a number of unaccompanied children without access to shelter, regular food and water as a result of aid agencies being prevented from carrying out distributions in the camp.

It is unacceptable that children are being put at risk by the destruction of the camp.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd should act to safeguard the children evicted from the camp by bringing them safely to Britain under the Dubs Amendment; the French government should halt the demolition of the camp and allow aid agencies to distribute humanitarian aid.

The racist tide will only be driven back by anti- racists standing up and confronting it. From Germany to Greece to the USA, people who want a society free from racism are saying no more. People are taking to the streets in large numbers to oppose racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and to say migrants and refugees are welcome here.

This is why Stand up to Racism fully supports the STUC St Andrew’s Day Anti-Racism March and Rally. Trade unionists, students, people of all faiths and none, migrants, musicians, refugees, pensioners and parents, will march to make a defiant stand against racism.

We are the majority and we will stand up to racism.

Talat Ahmed
Stand up to Racism, Scotland

For details of the St Andrew's Day Anti-Racism March see the STUC Website or the St Andrew's Day Facebook Page