Shaping Scotland’s future

The workers of Scotland will definitely be having their say – with no less that nine in 10 working people casting a vote next Thursday – according to a new Unite poll released today (September 11).

And with just one week to go until the referendum, the vast majority of Unite members, again nine in ten, have already made up their minds about how they will vote.

But whatever the outcome, Unite is urging both camps to focus on uniting Scotland in delivering the future that the people want.

The results come against a background of the largest number of Scottish people ever recorded – some 4.25m – registering to vote next week.

“Working people across Scotland look set to shape the outcome of next Thursday’s historic vote by participating in astonishing numbers, said Pat Rafferty, Unite’s Scottish regional secretary.

“Our members – the majority of whom are in work as well as sizeable numbers of community members – are fully engaged with the referendum debate on Scotland’s future.”

The poll of nearly 9,000 Unite members in Scotland, conducted over the weekend of 5-7 September, supports official figures on high participation with turnout rates across all age groups and sectors of more than 90 per cent expected.

Across the industrial sectors represented by Unite participation is expected to be high.

But the highest levels of participation are expected to come from Unite community members, who are members presently out of work or in study, 100 per cent of whom said that they will be voting.

Unite itself has a position of ‘positive neutrality’, agreed after extensive consultation with its sectors.

Unite deliberately did not ask members how they will vote.

“Unite members told us very clearly that they do not want their union taking a stance one way or another,” said Pat Rafferty.

“Instead they wanted us to help them find the information that they needed in order to make up their minds, which is why this union has been striving to help our members in their deliberations, holding meetings across the country to allow our communities to debate the profound decision before us.

“But members are split over the quality of the information from both the yes and no campaigns,” he added.

“This reaffirms our view that whatever the outcome next week, we urge both camps to pull out all the stops to focus on uniting our country in delivering the future the people of Scotland want.”