ScotRail employees in Inverness join RMT nation-wide strike action with picket at railway station
INVERNESS union members gathered on Saturday morning at the city's train station to join a nation-wide wave of protests which saw a halt to train services on the day.
A group of RMT members working for ScotRail joined the strike action day with a picket in the city centre.
This come after RMT’s Company Council and National Executive Committee (NEC) rejected ScotRail’s latest offer.
According to ScotRail, the offer would have seen the lowest paid staff receive a basic pay increase of almost 7.5 per cent.
Conor Cheyne, member of RMT Inverness branch, said: "We are striking for fair pay at a time when spiralling costs are not keeping up with inflation.
"Many of our members are on under £25k a year and are hurting badly along with everyone in Scotland right now.
"We don't want to lose money through strike action and we don't want to disrupt the public. However, ScotRail are determined to include a tech clause within the pay deal which could pave the way for ticket office closures and our members cannot support that.
"The railway is a vital service for the North of Scotland, albeit one that has been underfunded and poorly provisioned for many years due to privatisation.
"We welcome the nationalisation from the Scottish Government as well as their commitment to further invest within our railways. We seek a ScotRail that puts customers and employees above all else, with good service and good industrial relations."
He underlined that the RMT Union does not represent train drivers.
Phil Campbell, ScotRail head of customer operations, said: “It’s really disappointing that the RMT has refused to put this improved offer to its members so they can have a say.
“Strike action has a damaging effect on railway’s recovery at a time when we should be encouraging more people to travel. Instead, our customers are being severely impacted and our staff losing out through lost wages.
“We remain open to resolving this dispute.”
