Contractual errors 2

With regard to Edinburgh University moving fixed-term contract (FTC) researchers to permanent contracts ("Edinburgh management and union forge permanent alliance", August 4, and Letters, August 18), the issue is not how many FTC staff are put onto permanent contracts but how long they are permitted to stay on them before being made redundant. If no funding is made available to provide for salaries to accompany the new contract, then redundancy will follow and the researchers will be in the same position as they were before.

We call on universities to comply with the spirit as well as the letter of the law, and provide FTC researchers with increased financial security.

David Jessop. Association of Researchers in Medicine and Science