THE multi-millionaire boss of the Government jobs agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise, last night called for an end to poor pay and conditions for workers in the North of Scotland's key tourism industry.
Fraser Morrison, chairman of the agency who was brought up in a council house in Easter Ross, said that the area's holiday trade, which provides around 20,000 jobs, would not become ''truly world class'' if this problem was not addressed.
Mr Morrison has built up the highly-profitable Edinburgh-based Morrison Construction Group as one of the country's major international building and civil engineering giants and works part-time as the chairman of the Inverness-based agency.
The chairman of the construction firm with a yearly turnover of more than #200m was giving a keynote speech in his HIE role in Inverness last night at a dinner on the eve of a one-day major tourism conference in the Highland capital. It is to be addressed today by the Government's Scottish industry minister Brian Wilson, Scottish Tourist chairman Lord Gordon of Strathblane and other VIPs.
Mr Morrison, who made a personal fortune when his company was floated on the London Stock Exchange, said: ''At the agency we are becoming increasingly concerned that there are examples of employment practices in the area's tourist industry which do not match up to the quality aspirations that all of us involved have for its future.''
He called for a full and frank debate on the topic which will be addressed in a discussion document to be issued by the agency today.
But he made it clear that HIE was actively considering new measures to ensure that any holiday businesses given taxpayers' money in the form of grants and loans actually ''encourage greater responsibility to staff''.
He revealed that the enterprise body was considering requiring all businesses requesting cash to provide more details of their wage structures at all levels of staffing; that any such employers promote the provision of proper childcare facilities locally; and asking them to confirm that any staff accommodation that they provide meets Government Health and Safety standards.
The tourist industry generates an estimated #500m a year for the economy of the Highlands and Islands, making it one of the area's most valuable industries.
But Mr Morrison, whose father Alex started the business with just one lorry in Tain, Easter Ross, in 1946, said that tourism's reputation for providing seasonal employment as well as poor wages and conditions stopped many people from viewing it as a serious career option, with many only working on a part-time or on a stop-gap basis.
He said: ''I know that this picture is not fair to the majority of responsible employers, but it does no good to anyone connected to the industry that this image exists at all.
''Tourism is one of the most competitive industries in the world. If the Highlands and Islands is to continue to compete and achieve the goal of becoming truly world class, then the area must offer the finest standards of accommodation and service which are provided by a professional staff who are properly rewarded, trained and treated.''
The conference is being held at Inverness Caledonian Thistle football club's new #5m stadium. It has been organised by the agency and it brings together all the public sector bodies involved in developing and funding the north's tourist trade.
Lord Gordon of Strathblane, who is better known as Scottish independent radio pioneer Jimmy Gordon, will call for improved air services to and from the Highlands.
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