Latest news with #Foyer
The Herald Scotland
2 days ago
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Scottish Government faces union warning over spending measures
Public finance minister Ivan McKee will this afternoon (Thursday) unveil details of the crackdown which aims to reduce "wasteful" spending by the state amid major financial pressures. It is understood the proposals will increase the amount of cash saved over the following five years so that by 2029/30 the government will be saving by up to £1 billion annually on backroom operations. The strategy is expected to set out how substantial savings can be made through collaborative working across organisations focusing on reducing demand for services such as the NHS through preventation such as policies to reduce diseases and social harms caused by poverty. READ MORE: But the government's proposals will also seek to reduce waste through more efficient procurement, cutting the cost of managing estates and buildings, the removal of duplication and the enhanced use of automation while aiming to improve the delivery of frontline services such as health and education. A major review of civil service is not being ruled out with the Scottish Government's 55 directorates potentially facing a restructure and a reduction in their number. It is expected that the cash-saving proposals will highlight too a possible need to "consolidate" Scotland's 130 quangos with cost-cutting mergers between bodies potentially being undertaken. However, in comments which could raise the prospect of future battles between trade unions and public sector employers, Ms Foyer warned: "You can't fix public services by cutting the people who deliver them." STUC general secretary Roz Foyer (Image: Newsquest) She told The Herald: 'It's illogical to talk about reducing headcount while NHS waiting times, A&E delays and social care backlogs are at crisis levels all while local government is all but being cleared out. 'Scotland deserves high-quality public services that are fully funded, resilient and responsive. That means investing in the workforce, not undermining it. We aren't against reform, far from it." She went on to say that while there was much public debate around artificial intelligence (AI) and technological change, "an ageing population will require greater investment in services delivered by people, not machines". Public finance minister Ivan McKee (Image: Scottish Government) First Minister John Swinney discussed the thinking behind the strategy when he addressed public sector leaders in Glasgow on Monday telling his audience the sector will shrink as services look to innovations like AI and his government plans to embark on a 'renewal' of public services by harnessing new technologies. Mr Swinney also noted the findings of the Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services in Scotland, chaired by Dr Campbell Christie in 2011, which had been tasked with examining the long-term challenges facing public services—including budget pressures, demographic change, rising demand and persistent inequalities. The Commission's report called for community-driven, preventative and collaborative approaches to address systemic challenges. Key recommendations included prioritising prevention to reduce long-term costs, enhancing performance through technology, and closer working across sectors. And in his speech on Monday, Mr Swinney referred to the creation of Police Scotland, where the country's eight police forces were amalgamated into one organisation, as one of the "key successes" from the Christie report noting the restructure had "led to over £200m in savings". But Ms Foyer told The Herald workers had paid a price to previous public sector changes. "Ministers must learn from the Christie Commission and the harsh lessons of the pandemic, whereby workers were thrown to the wolves, because of under-resourced services," she said. 'Before charging ahead, the Scottish Government must engage meaningfully with trade unions. We have made it clear to ministers that we will not support any plan that puts public services or public service workers at risk. "Politicians across the political spectrum need to face up to the fact that total tax revenues will have to rise in the coming years. The real question the Scottish Government and others are ducking is how they will do that fairly, using Scotland's devolved tax powers, to support our public sector workers. Mr McKee's strategy comes a week ahead of the Scottish Government's publication of its medium term fiscal strategy and follows warnings of a challenging financial landscape for the administration. In its latest five-year outlook last month the fiscal watchdog, the Scottish Fiscal Commission, forecast that the country's public finances will come under increasing strain over the next five years, due to rising welfare costs, sluggish economic growth and an £851 million income tax black hole. Public Finance Minister Ivan McKee pledged that Scotland's approach to public service reform will help deliver the fairer future that people in Scotland want. Mr McKee said: 'The strategy for public service reform that I have developed and will present to Parliament is all about doing things better, not doing less. It will enable Scotland to lead our own agenda on reform, not follow that of others. 'One of this government's key priorities is to improve public services. 'We are clear that everyone in Scotland should have access to services that are efficient, good quality and effective. We are also clear that this is about putting more funding into frontline services and investing in and empowering public service workers to deliver what people need. 'A key aim will be to identify systemic barriers that have prevented progress and to shift where and how investments are made, to take a more preventative approach – optimising the impact of our funding, making services more sustainable in the long term and making a real difference to people's lives.'
The Herald Scotland
02-06-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Scots union boss Roz Foyer in second home 'hypocrisy' row
The union boss was said to be the owner of a flat in Edinburgh, a terraced house in Glasgow, a Spanish flat which she rents out for £1,000 a week and a holiday cottage on Jura She also owns a four-bedroom family home in the leafy suburbs of north-west Glasgow, and a plot of undeveloped land. Ms Foyer, who earns up to £100,000 a year, has publicly blaming second home owners for exacerbating the housing and cost-of-living crisis. Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay (Image: Jane Barlow) Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay has questioned how she can continue in her role. He said: 'Scotland's leading trade unionist appears to have been more inspired by Donald Trump than Jimmy Reid. 'To secretly build a £1million property empire while railing against the supposed sin of second home ownership is hilariously hypocritical. 'Just another example of Scotland's self-righteous socialist establishment telling the rest of us how to behave – while doing the complete opposite.' He added: 'How Roz Foyer thinks she can continue in her role as self-styled workers' champion is a mystery and I expect her comrades might have something to say about it.' Mr Findlay joked on Friday that Ms Foyer shared his party's values of working hard and reaping the rewards – and invited her to defect to his party. Ms Foyer was the first woman appointed to the top trade union job in Scotland and represents 500,000 workers. READ MORE: STUC general secretary accused of 'champagne socialism' over second home Roz Foyer: It's 'Awful April' and the cost of living crisis continues She has repeatedly spoken out about the impact second homes have on communities amid Scotland's 'housing emergency'. In July 2023, she called for a 300 per cent council tax premium on second and empty homes to tackle homelessness. Months later, she said: 'Scotland is facing a simultaneous housing and cost-of-living crisis putting an unbearable strain on working people.
Spectator
02-06-2025
- Business
- Spectator
Union chief in second home hypocrisy row
Well, well, well. The general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress has found herself at the centre of a rather embarrassing scandal. It transpires that Roz Foyer – who has repeatedly blasted second home ownership – owns a total of, er, five homes, including a flat in Spain as well as a £100,000 plot of land. Talk about hypocrisy, eh? As revealed by the Mail on Sunday, Foyer – who earns up to six figures a year – lives in a £280,000 four-bedroom home in north-west Glasgow. On top of this, however, she has a £240,000 flat in Edinburgh, a £145,000 terraced house in Glasgow, a £125,000 Spanish flat that she rents out for a staggering £1,000 a week and a £150,000 holiday cottage on the Isle of Jura. More than that, just three months ago Foyer purchased a plot of unused land for £100,000. Alright for some! The revelations may be a little painful for Foyer, who has publicly slammed second home owners for worsening the housing and cost-of-living crisis.
The Herald Scotland
06-05-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
'Trade Union action on Supreme Court ruling not off the table'
Last month, the UK's highest court ruled the terms 'woman' and 'sex' in the 2010 Equality Act 'refer to a biological woman and biological sex'. Read more: Scot Gov minister says trans fears 'aggravated' by EHRC update Faculty of Advocates hit out at 'regrettable' Maggie Chapman decision 'Scrapping Misogyny bill over Supreme Court ruling unconvincing' Scottish Government scraps Misogyny bill over Supreme Court Judgment Ms Foyer previously said she did not think the law 'got it right' in terms of the recent Supreme Court ruling on the legal definition of a woman under the 2010 Equality Act. Asked what she meant by this, she told Unspun Live: 'I am not sure the decision that was made has got it right or thought about all of the implications on the ground and in our public institutions. 'At the end of the day, the law is the law and the machinery of the law has done its job and come to a position and it won't be the first time a trade unionist has sat down and said, well, they don't think that's the best law and maybe we need to rethink things. Ms Foyer would also not condemn the comments made by Green MSP Maggie Chapman who said during a trans rights rally there was 'bigotry, prejudice and hatred coming from the Supreme Court' following the landmark judgment. 'I don't condemn the words of Maggie Chapman but I don't necessarily think I would utter those words. That's all I would have to say on that,' the STUC general secretary remarked. Ms Foyer went on to say that trade unions campaign against laws "all the time" and she does not think it is a "big deal" to question the law or consider whether or not it should be improved. The STUC general secretary added: "On this particular issue, if you actually look at it from the point of view that trade unions are and consider the implications of the decision, we need to make sure that all people's rights are women's rights are protected, absolutely, but we also need to make sure that trans people's rights are protected. 'I would want us to be part of a society where we legitimately understand their right to exist and that means making space for them in our spaces and in our society and I am not clear on how the implications of this judgment is going to enable us to do that yet.' Asked if she foresees trade unions having to take action against the Supreme Court ruling as a result, Ms Foyer said: 'We will see what Congress says about what sort of action the STUC should or shouldn't be taking but, on the ground, our trade union affiliates will be working out the repercussions of this just now and how they can protect all their members.' Asked if she can confirm whether or not any action from the STUC around this ruling is off the table, Ms Foyer said: 'Nothing is off the table when it comes to action from the STUC on any issue.' An update on the Supreme Court ruling from the EHRC published last month said that in workplaces and services that are open to the public, 'trans women (biological men) should not be permitted to use the women's facilities and trans men (biological women) should not be permitted to use the men's facilities'. The EHRC said that allowing trans people to use toilet facilities for the gender they identify as would mean facilities are 'no longer single-sex facilities and must be open to all users of the opposite sex'. Ms Foyer said it was important to ensure that trans people do not feel 'other' or 'different' as a result of recent EHRC guidance. Ms Foyer said: 'We've seen some recent guidance come out from the EHRC. It's not clear to me. What are we expecting trans men and women to do? Are we expecting trans men to use women's facilities and trans men to use men's facilities? 'Or have we to build separate facilities for this group? And what does that say about inclusion of this group as a society and about not making them feel other or different? 'I think we've got a long way to go to work out the repercussions of this ruling.' Her comments on the podcast come after Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville told The Herald she believes fears trans people feel around using single-sex spaces have been "aggravated" by the EHRC update. Ms Somerville said: 'I think it's unfortunate that that fear has been aggravated by what happened on Friday night with the update but that's exactly why people need that clear guidance, statutory guidance from the EHRC so we can actually work to put that Supreme Court Judgment into practice and we stand ready to do that.' The minister has said the Scottish Government has already started working towards implementing the Supreme Court ruling – saying a short-life, working group was being established to look at 'consistency across Government on this work'. You can listen to the latest episodes of Unspun Live on Spotify here or watch over on The Herald's YouTube Channel here.
Press and Journal
30-04-2025
- Business
- Press and Journal
Aberdeen jobs warning as anger grows at Grangemouth refinery closure
The closure of Grangemouth signals a warning for industrial jobs across the oil and gas heartlands of Aberdeen, according to worried union leaders. Roz Foyer, general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, outlined concerns about the knock-impact of refinery closure and the need for an urgent industrial strategy to save jobs. 'For us, Grangemouth was the test of a 'just transition',' she told the P&J's politics podcast, The Stooshie, published on Wednesday. The long-promised 'just transition' refers to government promises to ease the move from oil and gas-reliant jobs to greener energy. Ms Foyer said politicians need to step up efforts or risk livelihoods after a 'valiant' campaign by the Unite union, which offered cheaper solutions for Scotland's last refinery. 'What we've seen is our governments' utter failure, at UK and Scottish level, to keep that site open,' she added. 'If that's their idea of a just transition, our movement has grave concerns about the whole of oil and gas, and that's an awful position to be in.' Ms Foyer found positives in the Labour government's GB Energy utility investment project, but her confidence is 'at a low ebb'. Petroineos said in September that refining activities at Grangemouth would end in 2025. In recent months, hundreds of workers have taken voluntary redundancy while a number of compulsory redundancies have been made. A significant report commissioned by the Scottish and UK governments, known as Project Willow, aimed to chart a future for the site in low-carbon energy. But the report said this would require around £3.5 billion of private investment. Petroineos has said the refinery is loss-making and has rejected claims from unions that the site could easily transition into a hub for producing sustainable aviation fuel. On Tuesday, First Minister John Swinney said the closure was a sad day for Scotland. 'The Scottish Government will work to secure a future for the Grangemouth community and agreement to the Acorn Carbon Capture project is essential,' he added. Brian Leishman, the Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, said Scotland is the 'victim of industrial vandalism'. Mr Leishman told the Commons: 'I don't want anyone in this chamber to dare mention a 'just transition', because we all know that the Conservatives when in power and the SNP currently in Holyrood did nothing to avert this catastrophic decision happening.' Listen to the full 20-minute interview on The Stooshie.
