IT’S an honour to follow in the footsteps of Pat Rafferty as the new Scottish secretary of Unite.

Pat was a first-class leader from 2010. He leaves with Unite growing in Scotland, and not many people can leave the building saying that.

It has been days since I took up the post, and the in-tray of issues facing the union is long. There are many challenges to face, with rogue employers trying to undercut the terms and conditions of our members and one of the most hostile Westminster governments in living memory — though hopefully not for too much longer.

And while we have a working relationship with the Scottish government, let’s not shy away from the fact that some of the massive battles we face are in fact due to their failure to invest in jobs, skills, apprenticeships and public services.

Local government, the NHS, transport and infrastructure have been deprived of proper funding for too long. Blaming Westminster for all our nation’s ills just doesn’t cut it any more — if it ever did.

Unite will stand up for our members no matter the political party in power. Wherever there are attempts to force a real-terms pay cut on our members, Unite will be there supporting them in their fight for pay justice.

That’s why the focus of our efforts must be rooted in the workplace, and if needs be, on the picket lines, to deliver real results for our members. This is exactly what we did last year in the local government pay dispute — and we will do so again this year.

Unite in Scotland is currently balloting thousands of key council workers within the schools and early years services across all 32 local authorities. They are being joined by our members in Glasgow Life and City Parking across the city.

The dispute is down to the failure of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Scottish government to make our members a decent pay offer. It’s a severe case of deja vu.  

A 5 per cent pay offer is a massive real-terms pay cut, no matter how you dress it up. With inflation at 11.3 per cent, interest rates climbing to 5 per cent and eye-watering energy costs, if anyone thinks our members will accept this then they are deluded.

Claims of “no more money” won’t wash either because we managed to secure an extra £600 million last year for local government workers after our members took strike action.

The Scottish government originally said there wasn’t any money left. The lesson being there is always money available for priorities — and public service workers will be one of my priorities in leading Unite in Scotland.

Another area I will be prioritising is our oil and gas, renewables and wider energy membership. I’m absolutely clear that any Just Transition must not leave any workers behind.

A Just Transition must put workers front, back and centre of any decarbonisation and net-zero strategy.

We saw what happened to the miners — we can’t allow the mistakes of the past to happen again. My fear is that’s what is in the pipeline unless there is a coherent and fully funded strategy put in place.  

Only a few weeks ago, Keir Starmer announced in Edinburgh that a Labour government would deliver more than 50,000 new direct and indirect jobs in the renewable energy sector in Scotland.

The jobs promise came with a proposal to create a publicly owned energy company, Great British Energy, based in Scotland.

But we have been here before with Alex Salmond’s pledge to make Scotland the “Saudi Arabia of renewable energy.” The SNP in 2010 promised 28,000 direct jobs in the offshore wind sector by 2020.

The reality was somewhat different with 3,100 direct jobs created in 2021. For the onshore wind sector, the picture was just as bleak with only 3,300 jobs created. Pledges and reality are two different things.

We need to ensure that it is possible for the existing offshore oil and gas workforce to transition into new energy jobs. Jobs that are actually created for our members to move into, and the reality is that this won’t happen overnight, it will take decades.

A key part of this transition includes a skills passport which is something the workforce has been demanding for years. It would improve the way businesses operate. It would also help to ensure people are retained and attracted to the energy sector.

Yet this is currently being blocked by the Global Wind Organisation. The Scottish and UK governments must remove any roadblocks to this skills passport because it is an important building block in the march towards a Just Transition.

Another issue that will be at the top of my priority list is the devolution of employment law. If Labour is elected to power at Westminster, Unite will be ensuring that this is one of the first items on the agenda for Scotland.

There is much work to do, building on the great progress and victories we have won. The challenge remains to deliver for workers in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis.

But we also have to redouble our efforts to ensure that proper investment is put into our public services, and that there are fully funded strategies in place to deliver for workers by government. If not, then my pledge is that Unite will be there to hold them to account every step of the way.