Volunteers ‘won’t be used in shops’

A major golf event coming to Scotland this year will not use volunteers as shop assistants, unlike the Ryder Cup.

Flagship international women’s golf tournament the Solheim Cup is being held at Gleneagles in September, five years after the Ryder Cup took place there.

Giving evidence to MSPs on Scotland’s updated volunteer charter, Volunteer Scotland chief executive George Thomson said a change to stop using volunteer shop assistants fits in the with new guidelines which outline 10 principles for fair volunteering.

He said: “The Ryder Cup was a great volunteering experience but there were some roles there which were about shop assistants being volunteers.”

He said since the charter has been updated by his organisation and the Scottish Trades Union Congress (Stuc), this would be a breach of the principle that volunteers should not be used to generate profit for owners.

“That’s a specific example of how the charter is saying that’s not acceptable – you shouldn’t have a volunteer merchandise worker selling T-shirts for private profit in a context like that and that’s been accepted,” he added.

“It’s really great to say that for the Solheim Cup... that’s been stopped. So there’s been a shift.”

Mr Thomson said the revised charter is stronger and has a greater focus on what is a legitimate form of volunteering.