EMPLOYMENT minister Richard Lochhead has not ruled out the possibility that disruptions surrounding the ongoing ScotRail pay dispute could continue into summer and beyond.
While staff have been offered a 2.2% pay rise and the opportunity to participate in a revenue share agreement which would represent 5% in total, the trade unions Aslef and RMT have rejected these offers as “derisory”.
Ahead of the introduction of a new temporary timetable for the recently nationalised rail operator and mounting concerns over service cancellations, Lochhead told the BBC’s Sunday Show: “I hope it can be sorted soon, and of course we’re reading about potential strikes across the whole of the UK and Network Rail which also affects Scotland as well.
“In terms of pay negotiations between employees and management, we’re urging them as hard as we can to stay round the table, please get this sorted as quickly as possible, otherwise it’s going to be counter-productive the longer it goes on.”
Asked if we were facing a “a summer, an autumn, a winter of strikes and economic misery”, the employment and fair work minister replied: “I hope not.”
Lochhead highlighted the ongoing economic challenges Scotland the UK face, including the impact of both Brexit and the war in Ukraine, saying: “These dynamics mean that things are quite difficult to predict for the future, but we do know that if the UK Government don’t take the action they have to take and urgently pull their fingers out their ears, there is a danger of recession, and more and more people being in hardship.
“So that is why the Scottish Government is calling on the UK Government to please, please act.”
Lochhead’s entreaties were met with scorn from rail unions however, with Aslef Scotland organiser Kevin Lindsay commenting: “From an Aslef point of view the most sensible thing that he could do right now is to tell ScotRail to get back to the negotiating table to settle this dispute so that the ridiculous timetable cuts that are planned for tomorrow can be withdrawn and our railways can get back to serving the public.
"It is not sensible to ask workers to accept 2.2% when inflation is heading north of 10% and it is not credible to blame workers for the state of the economy."
Lochhead has also faced backlash for suggesting that workers “look at whether the country can afford what they are asking for” when negotiating over pay increases.
Further union anger was voiced by TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes at reports of UK Government plans to introduce laws which would compel a minimum number of rail staff to work during a strike.
Cortes said: “Frankly, the Tories can pass whatever law they wish to deny our members their fundamental rights – our union will defy their unjust and undemocratic laws every step of the way.
“The difference between a slave and a worker is the latter’s ability to withdraw their labour.”
