Professor Gregor Gall writes for The National (Scotland)
Professor Gregor Gall discusses his doubts about Scotland's ambition to be a fair work nation by 2025.
In this article, published 9 July 2022, Professor Gall explains that though the expectation was that, in the public sector, fair work would bring about significant changes, recent disputes and industrial action has shown that fair work has not changed the way employers look upon issues of voice and respect.
Professor Gall discusses why the social liberal political worldview of the SNP government is preventing progress to be made:
This means it does not want to coerce employers in any way, not just for fear of disinvestment, but because it needs their co-operation to make the economy more profitable. Rather, it coaxes employers to act in certain ways by appealing to their self-interest.
Ultimately, according to Professor Gall, it is unlikely that Scotland will become a fair work nation by 2025:
The only way for that to happen requires giving fair work a statutory underpinning, called ‘hard regulation’, so that it become mandatory and enforceable. That in itself necessitates a social democratic approach. It would start with using the public sector and public procurement to alter the nature of employment relations and the balance of power within them.
