Alex Salmond has urged unions and employers to back the Scottish Government's bid for the power to set the minimum wage as part of a new Fair Work Convention.

The convention, announced today at the STUC's Decent Work, Dignified Lives conference in Glasgow, is designed to provide leadership on Scottish industrial relations and promote the principles behind fair work.

It will encourage dialogue between unions, employers, public sector bodies and government.

The Scottish Government established the Working Together Review in February to examine how better working environments can be created for employees across the country.

Holyrood ministers said they will publish a full response to the review around the new year, but in the meantime they have submitted recommendations to the Smith Commission on Scottish devolution for the minimum wage to be decided by the Scottish Parliament.

Speaking at the conference, Mr Salmond announced a further step in the Scottish Government's commitment to a living wage.

"The Fair Work Convention was a key recommendation of the Working Together Review," he said.

"Such is the importance of the review's principles, I'm delighted to announce that we are making this important suggestion a reality, and strengthening our commitment to living wage policy and fair working conditions for all.

"We will, of course, work closely with the STUC in establishing this body. The Fair Work Convention will provide leadership on industrial relations and encourage dialogue between unions, employers, public sector bodies and government.

"One of the aims of the Fair Work convention will be to exert greater Scottish influence over the minimum wage; it will also champion other aspects of good industrial relations, including payment of the living wage.

"It will be a powerful advocate of the partnership approach which characterises industrial relations in Scotland at their best - it will highlight the fact that business productivity goes hand in hand with proper pay for employees.

"It will take forward the aims of this conference - decent pay and dignified lives - and the objective that I have pursued throughout my political career; the power to make that happen. Not just change in Scotland but change for Scots.

"We must ensure that people are valued, rewarded, engaged in their work - and we must allow everyone to feel they have a stake in the success of their workplace, their community and their country.

"The Scottish Government is working to build that sort of economy and that sort of society. After the energising process of the referendum Scotland will never be the same again - it will be better."

But shadow Scottish secretary Margaret Curran hit out at the First Minister and said: "With each day that passes, Alex Salmond looks more and more like he is acting in bad faith.

"People across Scotland voted to continue pooling and sharing resources across the whole of the United Kingdom. The First Minister needs to respect the sovereign will of the people of Scotland and ditch his suggestion of another referendum."

She argued having a national minimum wage across the whole of the UK "means that people in Scotland avoid a damaging race to the bottom", with Ms Curran stating: "Scottish Labour will not devolve the minimum wage because it will make Scots worse off by opening up competition on pay and conditions between workers in Scotland and the rest of the UK. The interests of working people are not served by pitching one against the other."

She continued: "You can't trust the SNP with the minimum wage. With a Labour government across the UK, we will increase the minimum wage to £8 an hour - far more than the SNP suggested during the referendum campaign. When the SNP had the chance to improve wages - by introducing the living wage for public contracts - they voted against it.

"Scottish Labour wants powers for a purpose, backed up by pooling and sharing resources across the UK. That means extensive new powers over tax, welfare and jobs which will give us a powerhouse Parliament able to make a real difference to the lives of people across Scotland."