Falkirk West MP, Eric Joyce, is backing a Private Members Bill by Greenock and Inverclyde MP David Cairns, which will end the discrimination against workers in Scotland by bringing the law on Sunday working in Scotland into line with the rest of the UK.

The Sunday Working (Scotland) Bill, which received its second reading in the House of Commons today, is designed to extend the protection currently afforded to shop and betting workers in England and Wales against being forced to work on Sundays, to shop and betting shop workers throughout Scotland.

Following the Bill’s second reading today, Eric Joyce MP said

‘I am delighted to support this Private Members Bill. It is hard to believe that shop workers in Falkirk West and throughout Scotland have not been afforded the same protection and employment rights as shop workers in London, Birmingham or Manchester.

It is even more ridiculous that a UK company trading in Scotland chose to exploit the loophole in employment protection law to penalise workers in Scotland and, in some cases, to sack them for refusing to work on a Sunday.

The Sunday Working (Scotland) Bill will ensure that shop and betting shop workers here in Falkirk will be given the same protection in law with regards to Sunday working as workers in England and Wales.

I am very pleased that this form of discrimination against workers in Scotland will come to an end through the diligence and determination of the Secretary of State for Scotland and my fellow Scottish MP’s at Westminster.’