Parliamentary pickets cross the line

First, he invents me accusing him of the “heinous crime” of supporting the workers whose pensions are under threat. No such criticism was made. It is his chosen method of support, closing the Scottish Parliament, that is my concern.

That Neil Findlay should see parliament as elitist, divorced from the real world, is disturbing. A democratic parliament does not sit above the people, it is drawn from them, is responsible to them, provides a forum for their needs and aspirations to be heard and legislated upon; it provides individual MSPs with the authority to assist constituents with the problems they face in “the real world” he refers to. Above all, the parliamentarians within it can be, and are, dismissed by the people. A definition which is the very opposite of elitist.

Yes, Neil, I am the same person who encouraged and engaged in mass civil disobedience over the poll tax. Which shows that I do not believe that all political activity should be confined to parliament and its members. To expect no action on any issue except by MPs and MSPs would indeed be elitist.

However, I cannot recall in any marches, demonstrations, and civil disobedience that I and others have engaged in, that there was a call for us to close a parliament. It will be most interesting to know if Neil’s Labour colleagues at Westminster will attend that parliament on 30 November, or seek to close it.

As for the staff in the Holyrood parliament, of course they have the right to strike. That would certainly make it more difficult for the parliament to function, but it could do so. I recall the House of Commons continuing during the three-day week, by candlelight and manuscript amendments to legislation. We all thought it important to keep parliament open.

But has it never crossed the minds of Labour MSPs that keeping parliament open, to allow public sector workers to lobby SNP, Tory and Lib-Dem MSPs, face-to-face, placing them on the spot to justify or support the trade unions’ case, is a far more effective method of pressure than keeping them at home?

Finally, Neil, it isn’t a matter of who has the most mojos, but who knows a principle when it stares him in the face.

Jim Sillars

Grange Loan

Edinburgh

NEIL Findlay MSP’s letter in response to Jim Sillars (Letters, 22 November) is interesting as it demonstrates a blinkered and cynical view of the pension reform issue.

The coming strike is not by “millions of workers across all sectors” as Findlay suggests: nor are there only “teachers… council employees, tax officers, etc.” in the “real world”. The strike is by public-sector workers for the continuance of their privileged pensions at the expense of the local and national taxes of the majority of workers and (private) pensioners in the real “real world”.

The Labour party knows full well that had it been returned to power (God forbid), it would have been obliged to take virtually the same steps that the coalition is proposing. This is why Ed Miliband and the Westminster Labour lot are so quiet on the matter – they know that the status quo is financially unsustainable.

If Labour really wanted to address the issue of pensions for the benefit of all as opposed to the minority, they should be parading the streets for significant increases to the state pension for all: remember, it was a Labour chancellor who not so long ago announced a paltry 75p per week state pension increase. C’mon Neil, get real!

David K Allan

The Square

Haddington

East Lothian

JIM Sillars was correct when he stated (Letters, 21 November) that parliaments provide civic society with the democratic legitimacy for the protection of free speech and rule by the ballot box.

However, I suspect that Mr Sillars was being disingenuous to suggest that Neil Findlay MSP and his like-minded fellow MSPs are jeopardising the democratic process through showing their solidarity with the trade union movement by refusing to cross a picket line at the Scottish Parliament.

The quality of civic society cannot be measured solely on the strength of its parliamentary democracy; it is also given depth by the robustness of its industrial democracy and the right of workers to withdraw their labour without fear of persecution after a free and open ballot.

With their pension rights under sustained attack from the UK government, public-sector workers are heartened by the unequivocal support of elected representatives like Mr Findlay, and actions speak louder than words.

On St Andrew’s Day, democracy will be alive and well on the streets of Scotland. Come and join us on the picket line Jim; it may rejuvenate your undoubted left-wing credentials.

Jim Doolan

Muir Road

Bathgate

West Lothian