THIS year has been one of significant victories for Scotland’s labour movement — the Glasgow equal pay settlement and the teachers’ pay award being the most notable examples.

But it has also been one of industrial setbacks with major body blows to workers at Michelin in Dundee, the Caley railway works at Springburn, HES in Shotts, McGills in Dundee and Kaiam in Livingston.

This is not to mention the year-on-year job losses across the public sector, especially in Scotland’s beleaguered councils. While headline employment figures may paint a rosy picture the reality for many working people is quite different.

In my Lothian region I speak to workers and their trade unions week in week out. They tell me of the precarious nature of much of their work and the pressures they are under in the face of stalling wages and decreasing resources.

Take for example the Kaiam closure where staff were left high and dry without pay or a job days before Christmas and where the company owner benefited from hundreds of thousands of pounds in taxpayers’ money. Or NHS staff in Edinburgh who love their job but cannot provide the care they want to because of underfunding and a lack of staff on their wards.

Or the firefighters in Livingston whose stations don’t have adequate fire cover, the train guards at Waverley exasperated at Abellio’s dreadful stewardship of ScotRail, or the bus drivers across Scotland frustrated at the cutting of vital routes to communities that are gradually being isolated.

Or retail workers in our cities and towns who are also feeling the brutal impact of the decline of the high street whilst bar and catering staff are being exploited.

Or the social care staff doing some of the most vital work in our society, caring for the elderly and vulnerable, having to suffer their role being devalued through low pay and zero-hours contracts.

This is the reality of the world of work today and no amount of warm words or smiley ministerial photocalls can camouflage that reality.

But it could be all so different if we took the opportunity to use the Scottish Parliament’s powers to implement real change so that we can invest in communities, our people and our industries.

If we were to legislate for the real living wage in all public contracts, including those that are run by arm’s-length companies — then we could transform the lives of thousands of people. We could also refuse to give contracts to companies that fail to recognise trade unions, meaning that we all benefit as we know unionised workplaces are happier, safer and more productive.

We could end the use of umbrella companies on taxpayer-funded contracts and those involving the Scottish Futures Trust, because umbrella companies rip off workers and the taxpayer to the tune of millions of pounds.

We could insist on direct employment rather than bogus self-employment. We could stop main contractors ripping off subcontractors on public sector contracts — such as in the case of Vaughan Engineering in my region, forced to close after 60 years, with the loss of 300 jobs, because of the behaviour of an aggressive and exploitative main contractor.

We could insist on trade union access to organise on projects that are financed by public money — which could have happened for the Dumfries hospital, yet the trade unions were told to stay off the job.

We could refuse to give contracts to employers that have blacklisted workers. This could have been done for the V&A in Dundee, where the STUC has been meeting this week, had the Scottish government followed its own guidance — but it didn’t.

We could end the outsourcing and privatisation racket that saw the likes of Carillion fail, leaving jobs unfinished and thousands out of work.

We could insist that apprenticeships and training be a condition of contracts and that a training officer is employed on major contracts.

We could regulate electricians helping them to protect their jobs and protect consumers.

We could put fair work conditions on the award of all grants to companies such as Kaiam and introduce conditionality for the small business bonus, rewarding employers who advance the fair work agenda.

We could legislate for collective bargaining, not just promote it.

Mealy mouthed guidance is not enough. We could end the use of zero-hours contracts in public contracts and in the public sector, including in colleges and universities for good.

We could increase the number of employers that are registered as living wage employers. Out of 340,000 registered businesses, only 1,300 are living wage employers and only 600 have signed the business pledge. That is not good enough.

We could accept the request from Scottish Care and Unison to implement collective bargaining across the social care sector.  We could end the cuts to Scotland’s councils that have seen the loss of 40,000 jobs. We could end the cuts to Scotland’s colleges and deliver on promises on lecturers’ pay.

We could bring the railways back into public ownership and ban the dumping of human waste on tracks. We could legislate for my MSP colleague Claire Baker’s corporate homicide Bill, holding company directors to account for decisions that cause the death of their employees.

We could stop giving public money to companies that systematically avoid paying their taxes. We could recognise and act on the mental health crisis, especially in services and jobs in which stress levels are high, and provide access to counselling.

We could do all of this now with a government that actually cares, a government that will work hand in hand with the trade union movement agitating for these changes, not simply blaming Westminster for problems we have the powers to resolve.

In the absence of such a government, the Scottish Labour Party will be doing everything it can to make sure these changes are delivered. There is an alternative and we are focused on delivering it so that everyone in Scotland who feels the balance is tipped against them has the opportunity to say enough is enough.

As part of this effort I will be delighted to continue working with my friends and colleagues in the Scottish trade unions over the coming year to advance a progressive agenda we all believe in. It is time the Scottish government did the same.

Neil Findlay is a regional list MSP for Lothian, a Scottish Labour frontbencher and convener of Labour’s trade union group in the Scottish Parliament.