SNP candidates show little regard for workers' rights

Regular observers of the SNP’s contortions over its attitudes towards workers’ rights will not be at all surprised by the furore which has followed Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon’s demand that all their MSPs’ parliamentary staff be forced to join the SNP (your report, 11 August) .

This, after all, is the party which did not even bother to turn up to help vote through the national minimum wage, and has promised to scrap the new deal if elected.

So it is little wonder that Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon should have so little regard for employment law that they believed they could force workers into changes to their terms and conditions without consultation or negotiation.

Mr Salmond’s subsequent attempt to spin his way out of the mess by now claiming it was about "a job of persuading MSPs and others" smacks more of Tony Soprano than a future First Minister.

I am not aware of any other political party that requires the staff of its MSPs (or MPs) to be members of that party. Perhaps it says a lot about the SNP’s attitude towards money provided by the taxpayer, that it regards it as being there to pay for work for its party activities and not to provide a service to its constituents.

Or, then again, it could simply be that when you have managed to lose half your members in the space of 12 months, then any wheeze to prop up your membership must look attractive.

THOMAS DOCHERTY

Crosslaw Burn

Moffat, Dumfriesshire

It seems intemperate for Alex Salmond to call for SNP membership to be a condition of employment when working for that party.

The plan is illogical on a number of counts. The first is that a large modern party which aspires to government should accept the principle that recruitment should be on merit, and not simply loyalty as expressed by card-carrying membership.

If Mr Salmon’s proposal was implemented, the SNP would lose access to the expertise of a wide range of people who may bring an objectivity that the apparatchiks could never match. In government itself, Mr Salmond would need to take advice from a range of civil servants who could never be expected to hold a party loyalty.

What the SNP needs to do is convince the public it is not simply outward looking, but can display a generosity of spirit, too. A plan to link em-ployment to membership would show it not only looks inward, but it wants to appear negative and nasty, too.

BOB TAYLOR

Shiel Court

Glenrothes

The proposal by Alex Salmond that all those who work for the SNP should be card-carrying party members exposes a lack of understanding of the professional approach most staff members bring to the party both at the Scottish Parliament and party headquarters.

Staff who work for the SNP are not in it for the money. Turnover of parliamentary staff across all parties is among the highest of any professional sector in the country.

Long hours, lack of job security and a lack of recognition of the professional service being offered are all factors and perhaps something the Corporate Body will consider examining more closely in order to improve retention.

If, as Mr Salmond suggests, the majority of those working for the SNP are no longer members of the party, then I would suggest that is more a reflection on the direction the party has taken in recent years, with a perception, rightly or wrongly, that the leadership has gone soft on the question of independence.

MARK HIRST

Former convener, SNP Staff Association

Brandywell Road

Abernethy, Perthshire