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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Stuart Gillespie

Dumfries and Galloway rail strike went ahead despite last minute pay offer

A rail strike went ahead on Saturday despite a last minute pay offer to unions.

Members of the RMT at ScotRail staged a 24-hour walkout with the union having rejected an initial five per cent increase on offer.

In the days before the latest strike, rail bosses offered an additional £500, meaning the deal would be worth around 7.5 per cent to the lowest paid members.

But the proposal was conditional on the RMT consulting members and calling off Saturday’s strike.

As the union refused, the offer has since been withdrawn.

ScotRail’s head of customer operations Phil Campbell said: “It’s really disappointing that the RMT has refused to put this improved offer to its members so they can have a say.

“Further 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.”

Trains ran on just three routes on Saturday due to the strike, with no services operating in Dumfries and Galloway.

RMT organiser for Scotland Mick Hogg said: “We are fighting to defend living standards and working conditions.

“We want more because the retail price index is 12.6 per cent so the offer that is on the table is nowhere near acceptable to RMT members.”

South Scotland Labour MSP has called for the Holyrood Government to step into the dispute with ScotRail having been nationalised earlier this year.

He said: “The situation is untenable and I fully support those who have been forced to strike. It’s not acceptable that workers are being offered what is in effect a five per pay cut at time inflation is running at 10 per cent.

“The Scottish Government’s failure to engage with unions in a meaningful manner has led to this situation and Government owned ScotRail need to start negotiating a fair deal for their workers who help keep this country moving.”

A Holyrood spokesman said that while workers were entitled to strike, the new offer from ScotRail should have been put to members.

Rail passengers will be hit by further strike action this week as RMT members at Network Rail and a number of train operators, including TransPennine Express and Avanti West Coast, will be taking action on November 5, 7 and 9.

Although not one of the train operators involved in this dispute, ScotRail will be affected as Network Rail is responsible for infrastructure.

Previous strike days have seen them run no services in Dumfries and Galloway, an approach taken by TransPennine Express, while Avanti West Coast offered a significantly reduced timetable.

Avanti will also be hit by strike action on November 6.

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