END SCOTLAND’S FERRIES CRISIS NOW!

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may 2023 :: RMTnews 8 RMT has written to the new Transport Minister in the Scottish government Kevin Stewart MSP to demand action over the increasingly fragile resilience of ferry services following the latest safety incident involving anti-union company Pentland Ferries. The government has chartered vessels from the anti-union outfit Pentland Ferries’ including the MV Alfred for £9 million to provide relief on specific Clyde and Hebrides routes. Another non-union vessel MV Pentalina grounded off the Orkney Islands last month and experienced an engine room fire. All 60 passengers and some crew members were safely transferred to RNLI vessels. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that the Pentalina had a recent history of safety issues and the Alfred was subject to an ongoing Maritime Accident Investigation Branch investigation after it grounded off Swona in July last year, injuring six passengers. “I pay tribute to the bravery and professionalism of the crew who successfully extinguished the engine room fire and returned the beleaguered vessel to port at St. Margaret’s Hope. “The root causes of these incidents remain the Ferguson Marine fiasco and the complete lack of a coherent ferries plan. “We are now at a stage where the Northern Isles as well as the island communities and local economies in the west of Scotland are forced to live with the restricted capacity on their ferry services just as the summer timetables hit full swing. “RMT is committed to working to resolve these issues, which are affecting over 1,200 members at Pentland Ferries, CalMac Ferries and NorthLink to an intolerable extent,” he said. The union has slammed the Scottish government for failures in delivering two new CalMac vessels for the Clyde and Hebrides contract. According to the Public Audit Committee report, there has been a profound failure in procuring two new ferries to replace ageing ships on CalMac’s lifeline Clyde and Hebrides services. Vessels 801 and 802 remain undelivered nearly eight years after the contract was awarded and are now expected to cost over three times more than orignally budgeted. The report by the Audit Committee found that both vessels are now millions of pounds over budget and years behind schedule. There has been also been a significant lack of transparency and accountability throughout the project. The union said that the report highlighted how the SNP government was turning on ferry workers and taxpayers to mask incompetence and complicity in a bad deal for two vessels which remain undelivered. RMT called once again on the incoming First Minister to commit to a publicly owned and operated public ferry services as a priority, in line with existing legal advice on state aid rules.   END SCOTLAND’S FERRIES CRISIS NOW! Scottish government charters non-unionised and accident-prone vessels to undercut CalMac ANTI-UNION: Pentland Ferry MV Alfred arriving at St Margaret’s Hope on South Ronaldsay, Orkney Isles, Scotland