ENERGY: Politicians’ talk of investment and jobs from Scotwind are “little more than hot air,” the Scottish TUC charges.

A new STUC report says less than £600 million has been provided by the British and Scottish governments of a minimum £2.5 billion required to scale up Scotland’s supply chain.

“In order to reach the target of 25,000 jobs, Scotland needs a minimum of 19 manufacturing sites. We currently have zero. That’s a chronic indication of the political rhetoric clearly not matching the action needed,” STUC general secretary Roz Foyer says.

RAIL: Delegates voted to campaign for “a wholly integrated railway in public ownership” and better staffed stations and trains.

A motion from the RMT union said rail transport was crucial to meeting climate change targets and condemned the fragmentation of the network and job cuts. Delegates backed an end to driver-only operation and an expansion of staff on stations and trains to improve safety and reliability.

FERRIES: All public ferry contracts should be awarded to Scottish public-sector company David MacBrayne, the STUC agreed yesterday.

It expressed concern at the operation of Northern Isles Ferry Services by Serco, which has a guaranteed profit margin in its contracts and has received over £700 million in public subsidies since 2012 while cutting staff and keeping staff on freighters and on cleaning and security contracts outside the RMT’s collective bargaining agreement.

PRISONS: Congress backed the Prison Officers’ Association’s “68 is too late” campaign for pension justice.

Prison officers should get a retirement age of 60 in line with other uniformed services such as the fire brigade or police, a POA resolution supported by congress urged.

They called on the Scottish government to do more to lower the retirement age for prison officers.