SUMMER OF STRIKE ACTION ON SCOTLAND’S RAILWAYS

RMT members are standing firm in strike action again this month as the union called on the Scottish First Minister to put pressure on Abellio and Transport Scotland to negotiate settlements in four disputes. The union has warned that it was the absence of political leadership that has left Scotland's railways facing a long hot summer of strike action in a series of fights for workplace justice. With RMT members committed to an ongoing programme of action on both Scotrail and the Caledonian Sleeper run by SERCO, the union said that it was wholly unacceptable that leading political figures in Scotland, including the First Minister, had made no comment or intervention whatsoever, making a nonsense of their claims to support fairness and justice for the Scottish people. RMT members on the SERCO Caledonian sleeper are committed eleven days of strike action this month over a pay freeze the company is attempting to impose on workers. Fleet Maintenance Staff at the Perth Depot also took strike action this month over a breach of the dignity and respect policy. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has written to the Scottish Transport Secretary Michael Matheson MSP to demand an urgent meeting to discuss how the disputes can be resolved. Since March 2020, the Scottish government has been fully funding and managing the ScotRail franchise under Abellio’s Emergency Measures Agreement (EMA) and it appears that only the Scottish government can resolve these disputes. Mick Lynch said that RMT members across Scotland remained determined in their fight against pay freezes, for workplace justice and parity between grades. “I want to pay tribute to each and every one of them. “Strike action is a last resort – when all other avenues have failed – and the fact that we now have four disputes running in Scotland shows just how badly privateers like Abellio and Serco run their operations and treat their workers. “If the companies will not sit round the table and engage in serious talks aimed at resolving each of these disputes then the politicians responsible for issuing the franchises need to intervene and force their hand. “The political leadership in Scotland, including the First Minister herself, needs to end its silence, intervene as a matter of urgency, and put pressure on Abellio ScotRail to resolve these disputes and the action involving our engineer members at Perth and the workforce on the SERCO Caledonian Sleeper.   “RMT remains available for talks in this growing barrage of disputes and it’s about time the political leadership in Scotland put pressure on Abellio and SERCO to get round the negotiating table with the trade union,” he said. 7 RMT members are standing f k h attempting to impose on k disputes running in Scotland h h b dl matter of urgency, and put b ll l SUMMER OF STRIKE ACTION ON SCOTLAND’S RAILWAYS RMT members are standing firm in four disputes across Scotland this month STRIKE: Caledonian Sleeper workers launch solid strike action P rivateers Abellio attempt to turn Scottish football fans against Scotrail workers fighting for pay justice has backfired spectacularly.  Dutch-owned Abellio Scotrail had taken to Twitter and tried to blame staff for disruption to services for the England Scotland game - even though the match was on Friday and the next strike was on Sunday and the company have refused talks to try and broker a settlement.  The Scotrail tweet sparked a storm of protest with Twitter users queuing up to slam Abellio and back the Scotrail workforce.  ABELLIO STUNT BACKFIRES