The SNP has gone to war with the venue hosting its upcoming party conference by demanding it bins a controversial security company for the two-day event.
G4S, whose understaffing of the London Olympics led to more than 3,500 troops being parachuted in, are in charge of safety at the SECC in Glasgow.
And senior Nationalists are furious that the giant venue’s terms of use stipulate the company – which doesn’t pay all staff the living wage of £8.25 an hour – must be utilised at all of its events.
Sources within the party say they are paying as much as £14 an hour for workers, despite them receiving far less than that as a rate of pay.
Due to its exponential growth in membership, the SNP now only has the SECC or Aberdeen’s AECC as suitably sized venues to host their bi-annual gatherings.
A spokesman said: “Paying the living wage makes sense for any business and the SNP is working hard to increase the number of living wage employers in Scotland to 500 by next month.
“We’ve led by example in government, paying a living wage to public sector workers and providing funding to local authorities to pay the Living Wage across the social care sector.
“Ahead of our party conference in Glasgow, we have repeatedly raised the issue of fair pay with the venue and their contractors – and requested use of a security firm who pay the living wage to all of their staff.”
It is expected that 3,500 people will attend each day of the event when it runs on March 12 and 13 to hear prominent MPs and Scottish Government ministers unveil their Holyrood election plans and pledges.
Scottish Conservative North East Scotland MSP Alex Johnstone slammed the SNP for making “loud noises…only to quietly go along”.
He added: “Instead of issuing hypocritical statements about what it claims to believe about the living wage, perhaps it could stand by some of its rhetoric for once.”
Eric Alexander, managing director for G4S Events, said: “The pay and benefits which we offer our colleagues is industry-leading and is reflected in the strong working relationship we have with the GMB.
“We offer a minimum number of hours, a pension scheme and no exclusivity clause in our contracts and we are currently rolling out an annualised contract for those employed on a casual arrangement to ensure all our colleagues feel valued and supported by the company.”
A spokeswoman for the SECC said: “G4S provides security and stewarding across our campus and are both familiar and experienced with the site.
“We also employ our own SECC staff who are on site 24/7.”