Union to meet minister over ScotRail dispute

Published on Friday 12 March 2010 21:57

THE RMT has announced that it will hold talks with transport minister Stewart Stevenson next Thursday over the ScotRail conductors' dispute.

A third one-day strike was due to go ahead today, but ScotRail said it planned to run 95 per cent of services – more than during the previous walk-outs – including longer trains to carry rugby fans to the Scotland v England Calcutta Cup clash at Murrayfield in Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, the main train drivers' union, Aslef, said it will recommend its ScotRail members accept a 3.7 per cent one-year pay increase from next month, which also includes improved conditions.

However, the threat of strikes by railway workers over Easter increased yesterday when a second union announced that members had voted in favour of industrial action in a row over Network Rail's plans to axe 1,500 maintenance jobs.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) said its members working as supervisors voted by 56 per cent in favour of strikes and 77 per cent in support of industrial action short of a strike.

Two other groups of white-collar workers in TSSA backed industrial action, while managers voted against.

No strike dates will be announced before next Friday when the RMT will reveal the result of a ballot among Network Rail signal workers.

TSSA leader Gerry Doherty said: "It is not too late for Network Rail to listen to its workforce and the rail regulator, who said last week that their proposed changes could endanger safety.

"The regulator warned (Network Rail chief executive] Iain Coucher not to impose change on the workforce but consult with them instead. He should drop his macho management style and start serious discussions with us to solve this problem."

The RMT announced yesterday that 77 per cent of its members who took part in the ballot backed strikes, with 89 per cent supporting action short of a strike.

Network Rail said it had contingency plans to deal with any strikes over Easter and maintained that the vast majority of job cuts would be achieved through voluntary redundancy.

The firm said it needed to change working practices so more staff worked at weekends to make repairs and maintenance more efficient.

A spokesman said: "The way the railway is maintained and operated needs to change. Work practices that date back to the steam age should no longer have a place on a modern railway."

"We cannot allow the unions to hold this country to ransom. Negotiation is the only way this dispute will be settled."