First ScotRail: On the battle line

Published on Saturday 20 February 2010 14:04

AS A high-flying female in the male-dominated transport sector, Mary Grant is used to fighting her corner. But when she was promoted last May from managing director of First ScotRail to oversee FirstGroup's entire trains division, she would have been forgiven for hoping that some battles – in particular the tortured negotiations with trade unions – were behind her.

When Grant, known as Mary Dickson until she married PR veteran Cameron Grant in 2008, received her big break in last year's FirstGroup reshuffle, she handed down the day-to-day management of ScotRail to Steve Montgomery. Among the responsibilities she passed to the new kid on the block was the task of quelling a smouldering row with the Rail, Maritime and Transport union over the introduction of electric trains on a new line between Edinburgh and Glasgow via Airdrie and Bathgate, due to open in December.

The electric trains will dispense with the need for conductors, meaning drivers will instead perform the role of opening and closing the doors – a task which, according to the RMT, poses "serious" safety risks.

If Grant harboured any hopes of washing her hands of the dispute and delegating the task to her new deputy, she was soon to be disappointed. Last week the RMT dragged her name back into the row, publishing a letter she wrote in 2004, which the union argues is evidence an agreement over "driver-only operation" has been breached.

Talks that began 18 months ago recently reached deadlock and the RMT yesterday embarked upon the first of three planned strikes – the third of which is scheduled for one of the railway's busiest days of the year, when Scotland take on England in the Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield on 13 March.

While yesterday's disruption to commuters trying to get on with their Saturday shopping was expected to be minimal after ScotRail trained more than 200 extra managers to keep the majority of services running, the embers of discontent among the RMT's 500-plus members are threatening to turn into an inferno – one which could drag Grant back into the fray and which risks becoming a political fiasco. While RMT tempers are running high, rail bosses and businesses have also accused the RMT of "cynical" tactics by choosing a day when thousands of Scots make the pilgrimage to Murrayfield – a trip that can be difficult even at the best of times, with the queues at Glasgow's Queen Street station often forming hours before kick-off.

The dispute revolves around a new 300million line which rail bosses, businesses and policymakers had hoped would revolutionise east-west rail links. The line will be served by electric locomotives, which are already in use in Strathclyde, where drivers take control of the doors themselves, banishing the familiar sight of a conductor sticking his head out of the door and checking if the platform is clear.

ScotRail has used this type of train in Scotland for more than two decades but the ongoing roll-out of "driver operation only" has caused consternation among union members and in certain political circles.

The RMT claims ScotRail is putting money before safety as conductors on the new line will be replaced by lower-paid ticket inspectors, saving 330,000 a year.

But ScotRail insists these trains have been used on certain routes in Strathclyde since the 1980s without problems. No conductors will lose their jobs as a result of the roll-out, according to ScotRail. The line will, in fact, create 130 posts. The company argues that to convert the trains to conductor control would cost 1.4m and delay the route's opening until next year.

But with "driver operation only" also scheduled to be introduced on the main Edinburgh-Glasgow line in six years' time, what began as a spat over one line risks spilling over into a deeper dispute about long-term changes to the rail industry.

"It seems to be about the RMT trying to prevent any further expansion of driver door operated trains with ticket examiners rather than conductors on board," says one industry analyst. "The RMT appears to have chosen Scotland as the latest battlefield, having failed to prevent driver-only operated trains being introduced on Southeastern Trains' high-speed routes last year."

However, Geoff Martin, a spokesman for the RMT, says the strikes this month and next are based not only on safety concerns, but around a contractual row. The RMT argues that, in a letter in 2004, Grant gave assurances over driver-only operation. Last week the RMT published the text of the letter, in which she wrote: "I can give you an assurance firstly that First ScotRail will not, during the current franchise, be removing conductors from any of the services on which they are now present. Secondly, with regard to future potential services... I will make it clear to those leading developments... that your trade union strongly opposes the driver-only mode of operation. I will also ask that the trade unions be involved in early consultations on such services so that any potential future difficulties can be identified and resolved at an early stage."

The RMT has sought legal advice on the letter and claims it has caught First ScotRail "bang to rights" over Grant's broken promises.

Unsurprisingly, the transport operator denies there has been any such agreement. A spokesman said: "The union should call a halt to this unjustified strike rather than waste energy issuing misleading statements."

But the RMT insists it will not let matters lie. Martin says: "We have obviously taken legal advice and we will continue to take legal advice. Our preferred option would be to just sit down with First ScotRail and reach a settlement and the strike could be called off. But First ScotRail has been digging its heels in. Its position is just to ignore reality."

The RMT has submitted a detailed written explanation of its safety argument to the Scottish transport minister, SNP MSP Stewart Stevenson, who has previously stated that he is "not aware of any case having been made for any existing practices on Scotland's railways being unsafe".

However, pressure is mounting on the minister from opposition parties, in particular Scottish Labour, to look into the case in more detail.

Elaine Smith, Labour member for Coatbridge & Chryston – through whose constituency the new route cuts – former First Minister Jack McConnell and shadow transport minister Sarah Boyack have thrown their weight behind a campaign to stem the roll-out of driver-only operation on ScotRail.

Smith says the break-up of talks between the RMT and ScotRail requires an intervention from the Scottish Government – especially since the taxpayer is the ultimate loser in the strike action. She points out that not only will commuters be hit by delays but there is a clause in the franchise agreement between ScotRail and the government that allows the former to claim for any losses incurred as a result of strike action from the public coffers.

Smith says: "This clause is unacceptable. It undermines the motivation of the company to sit down with the unions and the government. Given that the franchise was extended to First ScotRail without going out to tender I think it does mean the government has to intervene in this issue."

Smith adds: "This company makes huge profits. The cost of putting guards on the train is minuscule. They should put safety before profit."

So far the Scottish Government is remaining on the fence. "We would encourage both sides to sit down and reach urgent resolution," a spokesman for the transport minister told Scotland on Sunday.

But, with no resolution of the row in sight, industry analysts argue that both Stevenson and Grant may soon be forced to play their hand.

An escalation of the Scottish dispute will add to a litany of other problems dogging FirstGroup's train division.

Earlier this year, Grant faced a threat from the Westminster government that it would withdraw FirstGroup's First Capital Connect franchise if services on the Thameslink network did not improve.

FirstGroup's handling of the franchise has become so unpopular with commuters that a spoof website – firstcrapitalconnect.co.uk – has been created to allow disgruntled passengers to vent their spleen against the company and chief executive Sir Moir Lockhead.

Earlier this month, Lord Adonis, the transport secretary, is understood to have summoned "senior executives" from First Capital Connect to his office amid growing calls that FirstGroup be stripped of the franchise.

But as they deal with the PR fallout north and south of the Border over the next few weeks, both Grant and Lockhead can take some comfort from the City's reaction to the crises. As Douglas McNeill, a transport analyst with broker Astaire Securities, concludes: "Being blunt, the City will always ignore such contentious consumer issues unless there is going to be a big financial impact. And that is very unlikely."

• Additional reporting by Martin Flanagan