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Railway staff in Scotland will go on strike this weekend after a union rejected ScotRail’s latest offer of pay.
Members of the RMT working for the rail company will stage a 24-hour walkout on Saturday, October 29, as part of an ongoing row over pay and conditions.
ScotRail had said the latest offer would have seen the lowest paid staff receive a basic pay increase of almost 7.5%.
RMT Scottish organiser Mick Hogg said the publicly owned rail operator “refuses to offer a cost-of-living pay increase”, and said the latest increase “falls well short of where we need to be as inflation RPI is sitting at 12.2%”.
But ScotRail said the RMT’s Company Council and National Executive Committee (NEC) rejected the offer without giving staff a say, and that the deal was conditional if the weekend strikes were suspended and the offer was put to RMT members.
The rail operator said the deal has now been withdrawn, but it remains open to resolving the dispute.
Mr Hogg added: “RMT members will be taken no lectures from ScotRail – as the bosses continue to give there self colossal pay increases.
“RMT are seeking a fair deal for our members that reflects the cost-of-living crisis.”
Phil Campbell, ScotRail’s head of customer operations, said: “It’s really disappointing that the RMT has refused to put this improved offer to its members so they can have a say.
“Further strike action has a damaging effect on the railway’s recovery at a time when we should be encouraging more people to travel. Instead, our customers are being severely impacted and our staff are losing out through lost wages.”
What services will be affected?
ScotRail said the strike action means it can only operate a limited service between 7.30am and 6.30pm on Saturday, with a half-hourly service on the Milngavie to Edinburgh Waverley via Glasgow Queen Street Low Level route, and an hourly service on both the Glasgow Central to Lanark and the Glasgow Central to Larkhall routes.
As a result, the rail operator warned there will be widespread disruption to its services across the country.
It made a particular warning to rugby fans who are heading to Scotland’s first autumn international to avoid using the train given the strike action will cause “significant disruption”.
The operator also warned RMT’s general grades are also currently taking part in an overtime and rest day working ban as part of action short of a strike.
This has seen some daily cancellations across the ScotRail network since October 14, as the train operator requires rest day working and overtime while recruitment continues.
Saturday will be the union’s second day of strike action this month over pay.
It follows industrial action on October 10.
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