Business support must benefit workers
Scottish Enterprise support for hospitality businesses must come with fair work conditionality if the Scottish Government is to build back better, the Scottish Greens have warned.
The call comes as a new Hotel Recovery Programme is launched, providing individual grants of up to £250,000.
Conditionality is a key recommendation of the Scottish Government’s economic recovery advisory group, led by Benny Higgins. Its report said: “The use of conditions in the allocation of grants and loans should be pursued actively.”
The Scottish Government has yet to formally respond to the report.
Commenting, Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said: “The recovery of the hotel and tourism industry is something we all want to see, but it must be a recovery for the workforce, not just the business owners. Hospitality has an endemic problem of poverty wages, precarious work and lack of unionisation.
“If the Scottish Government and its agencies want to see a fairer, greener and more equal economy emerge from this crisis, as they say they do, then business support schemes must drive up standards in areas like hotels and tourism.”
Support Patrick's campaign for more support for hospitality workers here.