SCOTTISH ministers have called on the Tories to act immediately to bring an end to the dispute with RMT members at Network Rail before strike action causes significant disruption across the UK rail network.
The plea came as RMT members at Network Rail voted to reject the latest pay offer from the UK Government.
ScotRail staff are not involved in the current dispute. However, action by RMT members who work for Network Rail will impact services in Scotland if the strike goes ahead.
Jenny Gilruth, Minister for Transport, said: “While this is not a matter in which the Scottish Government has any locus – I urge the Secretary of State for Transport to take a different approach and work with the Trade Unions to secure a railway that benefits users, staff and taxpayers.
“In Scotland, we have maintained constructive discussions between ScotRail and the Scottish representatives of the RMT members. By doing so, we have settled our pay negotiations.
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“Scotland has embraced the concept of fair work, so it is disheartening to see our own progressive activity in this regard being put at risk by the inevitable wider consequences of the UK Government’s ill thought out, hasty and hostile approach to industrial relations.
She added: “We do not welcome UK Government plans for so-called radical rail reform agenda which have yet to be explained to Scottish Ministers in any detail, but which appear to be a guise for compulsory redundancies in the Network Rail workforce, including in Scotland.
“The Scottish Government remains committed to our long-standing policy of no compulsory redundancies. However, the last three Secretaries of State for Transport have failed to engage in any meaningful conversations on these matters – an approach that is quite unsatisfactory given the seriousness of this Network Rail dispute.
"We will continue to work collaboratively with the Trade Unions in Scotland to make public ownership of Scotland’s Railway a success”.
Workers are set to strike on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in the latest round of industrial action in the long-running dispute over pay and working conditions.
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