Scottish rail passengers, already hit by disruption from the recent Virgin Trains accident, are facing further difficulties today, with a signallers strike continuing to paralyse many services across the country.
The signallers ” from the RMT (Rail, Maritime Transport) union ” walked out yesterday (7 March) in protest at delays in implementing a 35-hour week that it says was agreed with Network Rail in Scotland. And in an ominous development, the union also said that its executive would put forward plans for a national signallers ballot that could see industrial action across the UK.
”Reports from RMT organisers tell us that our members” strike is absolutely rock-solid,” said RMT general secretary, Bob Crow. ”Network Rail understands that our members are determined to achieve the 35h week we agreed to last July and it is the company that holds a very simple solution in its hands.”
During the strike, which is slated to run until the start of rush hour tomorrow evening, there will be no trains north of Stirling and while cross border and central belt services are running, there will be fewer trains than normal.
But there appears to be fundamental disagreement about implementation of the 35h week, with Network Rail insisting that the RMT did not exhaust all negotiation options.
”We met the union several times and offered to go to ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service), but the RMT”s national leadership in London has been immovable on the implementation of the 35h week in parts of Scotland, proposing a single solution that we believe unsuitable,” said a Network Rail statement.
Some passengers have expressed disappointment that FirstScotRail did not run replacement coach services, particularly on extremely busy routes such as Edinburgh-Glasgow, but the operator maintains the short strike notice made this impossible.
”The scale and timing of the disruption, as well as the lack of available buses, means that it is not possible to provide publicised alternative transport,” a FirstScotRail spokesman told ABTN from Glasgow.
”Hundreds and hundreds of buses would be required and this dispute was announced at very short notice. We deeply regret the inconvenience to our customers and are providing as many services as possible under difficult circumstances.”
Crow has also fired a withering salvo at Network Rail, using language that evokes some bitter industrial disputes of the past and claiming that replacement signalmen have been drafted in with inadequate training.
”Rather than risking lives by putting scab managers in charge of signal boxes, the company should be concentrating its efforts on implementing the agreement,” he said.
”Network Rail now has the choice of engaging constructively with us or face a ballot of our signalling members throughout Britain.