Countdown to ScotRail ending timetable cuts after main union accepts pay deal

The ending of the two-month ScotRail dispute which has caused passenger disruption with significant temporary timetable cuts has moved closer, with the biggest staff union voting “overwhelmingly” to accept a 4.5 per cent pay offer.

The RMT ballot decision at ScotRail leaves just the result of a vote by Aslef members which closes next Wednesday for that dispute to be settled. The union has recommended acceptance.

This comes as a separate pay dispute involving train drivers at 16 firms including cross-Border operators which had dragged on for two years was ended on Wednesday when Aslef members voted decisively for a three-year deal offered by the new Labour UK Government.

The RMT includes station staff and train conductors | John Devlin/The Scotsman

ScotRail has not said when it will restore its previous timetable, but it took some ten days after the end of a similar dispute in 2022.

That would suggest that some 600 daily services - or about a quarter - which have been suspended since 10 July would be reinstated around 7 October.

The RMT, whose ScotRail members include train crew and station staff, said the pay offer had also been accepted by colleagues at Caledonian Sleeper.

Both train operators are Scottish Government owned, with public sector pay restraints triggering the disputes, which prompted some ScotRail drivers to stop volunteering for overtime, on which the company depends.

The RMT said fewer than 200 of its 3,500 ScotRail members had rejected the offer, along with fewer than 20 of its 300 at Caledonian Sleeper.

Unite, which represents some 300 engineers and cleaners at ScotRail, voted last week to accept the offer, and the TSSA, which includes office staff, told the company on Tuesday it had agreed too.

ScotRail customer operations director Phil Campbell said: “I am pleased that trade union members have voted to accept this pay offer.

“All parties involved have worked hard to find an agreement that recognises the hard work of staff, as well as providing value for money for the public finances.

“We look forward to continuing our work with our staff and trade union colleagues to encourage more people to choose to travel by rail as a safe, reliable, and green form of public transport.”

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Meanwhile, in the other dispute, which included Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, LNER and TransPennine Express, Aslef said its members voted by 96 per cent in favour of a deal the union said was worth 15 per cent over three years. The turnout was 84 per cent.

The offer was made by the UK Government within weeks of Labour winning the general election in July.

The ballot result ends what Aslef called the longest train drivers' strike in recent history, during which drivers took 18 days of strike action.

Aslef had accused the previous Conservative government of "sitting on its hands" and refusing to negotiate.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: "The strength and resilience and determination shown by train drivers to protect their hard-won and paid-for terms and conditions against the political piracy of an inept and destructive Tory government has prevailed.”

UK Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said: "After two years of chaos on our railways under the Conservatives, this is an important step towards fixing our railways and getting the country moving again.”