Striking return to bad old days of RMT sulks

THE form of transport most associated with the RMT Union should not be the train at all but the pram, from which, not for the first time, its officials have taken to throwing their toys.

How else can one explain union opposition to proposed manning arrangements on trains that will operate the new electrified railway between Edinburgh and Glasgow, via West Lothian and North Lanarkshire, which will become the fourth rail link between our two major cities when it opens at the end of the year?

It's the type of investment, one assumes, that everyone within the "railway family" would welcome.

The union's problem has nothing to do – heaven forbid – with money. It's all about safety, apparently. Opening and closing passenger doors on the new trains will be the responsibility of drivers, not conductors, as is the current practice on trains in Scotland beyond the Strathclyde Passenger Transport area.

The union does not like that and has decided it's not playing. And just to show how miffed they are, officials have called three 24-hour strikes, one of them to coincide with the Scotland-England rugby international at Murrayfield on 13 March.

The new line, costing 300 million (of public money) is scheduled to open in December and will no doubt be viewed as a welcome Christmas present by businesses, commuters and anyone who, like me, wants to see Scotland's railways enter a second golden age.

One would have thought this taxpayers' largesse would be particularly welcomed by the industry's own union, given its repeated calls for investment.

But not the RMT, which is behaving like the spoiled brat who, on finding an expensive gizmo under the tree on Christmas morning, has a tantrum because it is not the top of the range version.

As for this dispute being on the grounds of "safety", the manning arrangement about which the RMT is complaining has been operating – safely – for the past 25 years on the Strathclyde network, which accounts for a majority of the regular rail services within Scotland.

Given the circumstances, ScotRail management has no option but to resist the planned strikes. But rather than any strike taking place at all, I'm sure the travelling public would prefer that the RMT grew up, showed some appreciation for this latest publicly funded investment in its members' future and accepted that you simply cannot get everything you ask for.