SNP backs unions over latest rail strike chaos
Travellers face more misery, yet minister condemns plan to curb powers
MILITANT trade unionists who will bring Britain’s railways to a near standstill today have received the backing of SNP ministers.
Passengers will face mass disruption to services because of a walkout by members of the RMT union at Network Rail.
Union leaders threatened to carry on striking until next summer unless their demands on pay and conditions are met.
The UK Government has introduced proposals for a law that will allow businesses to hire agency workers to plug staffing gaps caused by strike action.
Liz Truss has also promised that, if she becomes Prime Minister, she will bring forward legislation to stop militant trade unions trying to ‘paralyse’ the country, by introducing a minimum level of service for roads, railways and gas supplies. Rishi Sunak pledged a similar move. But the SNP Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth yesterday backed the trade unions, urging UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to intervene by instructing Network Rail to restart negotiations with union chiefs – and condemned the proposals to curb their power.
She said: ‘The UK Government continues to appear determined to escalate the situation with proposals to overturn the ban on agency workers covering striking staff. The Scottish Government will not support any proposals which seek to undermine legitimate union activity.’
In a letter to Mr Shapps, Miss Gilruth urged him to ‘instruct Network Rail and the relevant train operating companies to return to the negotiating table’.
ScotRail’s timetable had finally returned to normal following two months of disruption when 700 daily services were axed amid a pay dispute with the Aslef union.
Scottish Tory transport spokesman Graham Simpson said: ‘It takes some gall for Jenny Gilruth to write a letter in which she berates the UK Government for disruption to rail services, backs the unions planning the strikes and says she won’t support reforms.
‘For weeks, Scotland was saddled with a skeleton train service thanks to her botched nationalisation of ScotRail and the pay dispute with Aslef. It’s important to get the current dispute resolved as soon as possible.’
Mick Lynch, secretary general of the RMT union, yesterday told the Mail he will seek another sixmonth mandate for walkouts when the current one expires towards the end of the year, which raises the prospect of strikes spilling into early next summer.
And asked if week-long walkouts were possible, he said: ‘We will look at our tactics as we go on, we’ll examine what’s most effective and how best to pursue our members’ interests.’
Today’s action by Network Rail workers and staff at 14 train operating companies will have a severe impact on services in Scotland and across the UK.
Fewer than one in ten of ScotRail’s normal services will run due to the walkout by signallers and other Network Rail staff.
Only five routes will be in operation in the Central Belt, and those services will end at 6.30pm. Disruption began ahead of the industrial action last night as seven late-night services were axed, and will continue well into tomorrow as nearly 300 Thursday services have already been axed and dozens more have been amended.
Across the whole of the UK, one half of lines will be closed and only around a fifth of normal services will operate.
SO now we know where the true allegiances of the SNP Government lie – not with rail passengers but with union barons.
Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth has vowed to oppose UK Government proposals to curb the power of the unions.
And she called for ministers south of the Border to wade into the bitter dispute, by instructing Network Rail to restart negotiations.
A walkout by members of the RMT union today will cause yet more chaos for passengers after weeks of disruption which were caused by swingeing ScotRail timetable cuts. They were reversed only after bosses of the newly nationalised ScotRail caved in to union demands for a pay hike – for train drivers who already earn more than £50,000.
How galling, yet entirely predictable, that the SNP should side with the unions over wearied commuters, many of whom have given up on the railway for cars or buses. The impact for concert-goers and the recovering night-time economy resulting from the ScotRail fiasco was profound.
It was only the latest demonstration of the SNP’s pathological incompetence after a series of botched reforms.
Union chiefs have rightly seen Nationalist ministers as a soft touch, to the detriment of passengers. Yet now Miss Gilruth insists the SNP will ‘not support any proposals which seek to undermine legitimate trade union activity’. RMT boss Mick Lynch is seeking another six-month mandate for walkouts when the current one expires, which raises the prospect of strikes spilling into early next summer.
Is it ‘legitimate’ to paralyse a vital part of the country’s infrastructure on a regular basis? Sir Keir Starmer has reiterated that his frontbenchers should not be joining striking rail workers on picket lines today.
The SNP might well calculate that it can outflank Labour by putting on a stronger show of support for militant unions.
But long-suffering passengers are the casualties of this cynical jockeying – despite the SNP’s grandstanding rhetoric about a rail renaissance. In reality, the rail network was rapidly reduced to a laughing-stock once the party had taken control.
There can be little doubt that rail travellers in Scotland are regarded as little more than an inconvenience by both ministers and the union chiefs. But passengers will never forgive the SNP for the damage it has done to our once-revered rail network – and its support for the union chiefs who helped to bring it to its knees.