Labour members and trade unionists last week marked the birthday of Keir Hardie, the Lanarkshire-born miner who founded the Labour Party and was a pioneering advocate of workers' rights. Had he been around to blow out his 167 candles, he may have been shocked by some changes from the Scotland he knew, but perhaps not the treatment of many workers.
Indeed, on the very same day, data from the Office for National Statistics revealed Scotland's shameful title as the UK's zero-hours contracts capital. Scotland has a greater proportion of workers on zero-hours contracts than any other country in the UK.
These contracts offer no guaranteed hours of work, meaning that workers can be called in or sent home at short notice, with no notice or pay. This can make it difficult to plan ahead and can lead to financial insecurity.
The Scottish anomaly of having a greater proportion of workers on zero-hours contracts than any other country in the UK is just one of the areas of workers' rights which successive Scottish Labour leaders have argued could be improved by devolving employment laws to Holyrood. Giving the Scottish Parliament power to increase upon - but not cut below - UK wide workers' rights has also been supported by the trade unions who fund the party and has been backed by members too.
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