HOSPITALITY and retail workers bearing the brunt of the Christmas rush need fair pay and conditions, Scottish Green co-leader Lorna Slater has insisted.

She made the remarks as thousands of workers in Scotland’s bars, restaurants and shops — sectors beset with endemic low pay — endure their busiest time of the year.

Calling for action to boost pay and conditions in the sector, Ms Slater said: “Our shops, bars, and restaurants will be rammed with rushes of customers during this holiday period, with last-minute shopping, work nights out and family meals.

“Yet when it comes to pay and conditions, those serving our communities are on the front line of industrial injustice.

“The majority of those working in hospitality and retail are paid the minimum wage.

“This wage injustice has been a dark stain on the industry for a long time.

“Our workers deserve better. Everyone deserves a fair wage that they can live off.”

Unite Hospitality welcomed the remarks, but the union called for a “holistic approach” to tackle exploitative, precarious contracts and landlordism which plague the low-paid.

National chairman Nick Troy told the Star: “We welcome any political support, but if politicians are serious about improving the conditions of service industry workers, it needs to be more than just calling for bartenders to be paid more when they are being forced to fork out half their wages on rent.

“The people on low pay today are the same people who cannot consume tomorrow, who cannot afford a mortgage, who can’t afford their rent, that are having to sign on for universal credit while they are working.

“The Labour government need to understand the urgency of this issue if they want to avert an even deeper crisis.”

The Low Pay Commission and the Department for Business and Trade were contacted for comment.

A DBT spokesperson said: “A fair day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay and that’s why we’re taking action to boost the pay of younger workers, including by removing discriminatory minimum wage age bands for 18-20 year olds.

“We will also increase the National Living Wage in April – a step towards a genuine living wage that reflects the cost of living.”