Unions demand first minister gives commitment to rail

Transport unions in Scotland are calling on first minister Nicola Sturgeon to commit to rail after revelations that an internal report by the ScotRail Scottish rail service has put into question the future of ticket offices.

The report also suggests a 10% cut to services which unions say would lead to more than 1,000 job losses.

Unions called for the recommendations in the report by Iain Docherty, former non-executive director of ScotRail and of the Transport Scotland national transport agency, to be rejected.

They argue that the recommendations seek to exploit the Covid pandemic and its fallout to cut jobs and services.

In a joint statement, the ASLEF, RMT, TSSA and Unite unions said: “We need cast iron commitments from Nicola Sturgeon.

“Scotland needs investment in a safe, secure, reliable and accessible public rail system that meets the needs of the travelling public and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.” The unions said they are committed to working with the Scottish government to provide this, “but we will not accept attacks on our members’ jobs and the rail services”.

ScotRail is to come back into public ownership in March 2022 and, as Labour Research went to press, Sturgeon was meeting with the Scottish TUC.