A Glasgow MP has said the UK government claim that the law on unpaid trail shift was sufficient is “laughable”.
Stewart McDonald Glasgow South SNP MP asked UK business secretary, Paul Scully, if he will bring forward legislation banning the use of unpaid work trials at the outset of employment.
In the light of recent articles in the Glasgow Times Mr McDonald said the response was “shocking”.
Scully said: “The existing legislation and enforcement are sufficiently robust to ensure that no worker undertakes an exploitative unpaid work trial.
“It is the responsibility of all employers to ensure they are paying their staff correctly and we will continue to take robust enforcement action against employers who fail to pay the minimum wage.”
The Glasgow Times reported how a law student was left in charge of a clothing store in Parkhead forge on day one of a three-day unpaid trial period.
READ MORE:Unpaid work trial student left in charge of Glasgow clothes shop
We previously reported on the petition started by a Glasgow waitress after she did an unpaid trial shift at a Bearsden restaurant.
McDonald said: "The UK Government's claim that current enforcement against unpaid work trials is robust enough is almost laughable if it weren't so shocking given the number of high-profile incidents recently.
"The culture of unpaid work is a scourge on society and, the UK government must show its willingness to tackle this exploitative practice.
“Whilst the Tory government went out of its way to block previous legislation, there is a clear consensus across the country that unpaid trial shifts are pernicious and plainly unfair.
"It's high time this unfair practice was brought to an end, and the UK Government must bring forward legislation to end unpaid trial shifts and ensure a fair days work gets a fair days pay."
The MP had in 2018 brought a bill to the house of Commons that would outlaw unpaid rail shifts but it was ‘talked out’ by Conservative MPs, so it was not able to progress to a vote of MPs.
READ MORE:Stewart Paterson: Unpaid trial shifts in Glasgow are exploitation, pure and simple
McDonald also asked the minister to explain: "What recent steps he has taken to assess the potential merits of banning unpaid work trials at the outset of employment."
He received exactly the same answer.
In his answer, Scully, Secretary of state for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, said: “Unpaid work trials that are exploitative are already against the law.
“When recruiting, an employer can ask an individual to carry out a short unpaid work trial to demonstrate that they have the skills required for the job.
"But if a work trial is excessively long, or not part of a genuine recruitment purpose, employers must pay participants at least the legal minimum wage.”
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