Court plans are 'barrier to justice' for workers

"Worker safety is important - it justifies the time of our highest court - and courts are a public service and access should be on the basis of other public services". Dave Watson -----------------------------------------

By John Stevenson

Scottish Government plans to change the legal system will put up 'barriers to justice' for workers and must be withdrawn, UNISON's Dave Watson told the STUC Congress.

Backing a motion from Unite, which also called for convictions of employers who fail to produce health and safety protection for staff, Dave slammed the 'privatisation' of the court service by charging claimants 100 per cent of court fees prior to accesing justice.

He also criticised plans to take personal injury cases out of the Court of Session.

Dave said, "This is in effect treating justice as a commercial transaction rather than a public service... The real agenda is to make our courts the domain of big business, knocking out effective pursuers like trade unions and boosting the profits of insurance companies".

"But even more than compensation is the impact on health and safety in Scotland... Successful claims encourage employers to improve health and safety in ways that other measures don't always achieve."

"Through legal action we can also spot trends and then brief branches and focus negotiations on preventing accidents", added Dave.

Dave argued that cases often need specialist legal representation and their complexity deserves the attention of specialist judges.

The STUC backed him in sending a clear message to the Scottish Government that "Worker safety is important - it justifies the time of our highest court - and that courts are a public service and access should be on the basis of other public services".

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