End poverty pay now

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End poverty pay at National Trust for Scotland

Prospect, the union speaking up for hundreds of low paid staff at the National Trust for Scotland, has called on individual NTS members to insist that all employees are paid at least the Scottish living wage – currently £7.45 an hour. 

The NTS annual general meeting takes place in Stirling, on Saturday 28 September.

Prospect National Secretary Alan Denney said: “It is an absolute disgrace that a charity, with the large financial reserves of the NTS, continues to pay its staff nearly £1 an hour below the Scottish living wage.

“I am sure members of the National Trust for Scotland will be disturbed to learn of the poverty pay that the Trust’s board and remuneration committee endorsed this year. Indeed they could not even guarantee to move staff to the living wage level (£7.45 per hour) by 2017.”

The low pay position of NTS staff has been made worse by the introduction of zero hours contracts for seasonal staff. Hundreds of locally based staff rely on seasonal work for the NTS at remote locations.

As well as moving towards zero hours contracts, NTS is also attempting to eliminate seasonal workers employment rights by no longer accepting continuity of employment for seasonal staff – many of whom traditionally return to NTS employment year after year bringing back skills and experience vital to the long-term future of the organisation.

Prospect will also ask the Scottish government, who provide significant amounts of public money to the Trust, to insist that its commitment to the Scottish living wage is endorsed and applied across the NTS.