Union boss says ferry service tendering must be scrapped
Trade union leader Manuel Cortes, who represents around 100 CalMac staff, says the critical ferry service must be publicly funded in the future.
Mr Cortes stopped off in Oban as part of an eight-day tour of the Outer Hebrides to visit Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) members.
TSSA general secretary, Mr Cortes is demanding an end to the franchising of Hebridean ferries and wants to see any future tendering of services scrapped.
In 2016, CalMac beat off Serco to win an eight-year contract to run the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services. At that time trades unions and Labour MSPs argued that the franchising system was unnecessary and a waste of public money.
Mr Cortes said: ‘Everyone living in or visiting the Hebrides knows the ferries are critical to their survival. That’s why we can’t let up the pressure until their future is secured as a publicly-funded service and the franchising model that hinders its development is ended.’
The TSSA claims outsourcing the lifeline services to private contractors is still part of the SNP transport agenda even though the political party had ‘blamed Europe’ for tendering those services.
Mr Cortes added: ‘The cat is now out of the bag. The European Commission told the Scottish Government that it has nothing to do with them, guv’nor. SNP ministers must now scrap any future tendering of these lifeline services.’
Mr Cortes said he wants to see the SNP government taking the Hebridean routes back into public ownership by allowing CalMac to run them from 2019.
‘It makes no sense to allow profits to be made on publicly subsidised ferry services. The SNP has run out of excuses not to bring these services into public ownership. Their EU bogeyman was put to rest by the European Commission.
‘As we have always argued, it’s a lack of political will in Holyrood which prevents Scotland’s ferries, railways and buses from being run in the interests of its people rather than profits.’
During Mr Cortes’s tour he visited ports in Lewis, Harris, North Uist, Skye, South Uist, Coll, Barra and Mallaig, and was also in Fort William visiting workers at Abellio’s call centre.