At a meeting which concluded on the evening of Tuesday 24th March Prospect raised two very key issues for our members. Firstly issues relating to members in aviation being asked to take large wage cuts whilst still working, whilst the Westminster Government is protecting 80% of the wages of staff who are furloughed. Secondly we raised the ongoing issues with our freelance members and the lack of basic income protection, which is causing an immense amount of additional stress and anxiety at what is already a very difficult time.

The Cabinet Secretary has tasked Government officials to investigate the behaviour of employers across a number of sectors who appear top be playing fast and loose with the wages protection arrangements. 

On the issue of freelancers in response to a demand from Prospect that the Scottish Government act to bring in an income protection scheme if there was no action from Westminster within 48 hours, the Cabinet Secretary made clear that an announcement is expected shortly from the Westminster Government on this issue, and it's appropriate to wait for that, however in the interim if self employed members operate from a premise they will be eligable for the recently announced grants to SME's; details here . Prospect reserved the right to return to the issue if Westminster delayed action further or the scheme they introduced did not meet members needs. The Scottish Government has commenced work on what a system would look like if required.

At the end of the meeting the Cabinet Secretary thanked the STUC and it's constituent unions for all the work we are doing for the citizens of Scotland.

The group will meet twice weekly, we will continue to raise members concerns and issues, and shows the value of your Prospect membership