‘Union-bashing’ Scottish ministers horse-traded with Scotrail over bill for scab army, says RMT

SCOTTISH MINISTERS and Scotrail conspired to provoke and bankroll the current safety dispute over guards with RMT, to the point of negotiating over the cost of training and paying an army of strike-breakers, the union says today.

As rail workers prepare to lobby the Scottish parliament tomorrow (Thursday) over increasing attacks on rail safety (details below), RMT analysis of documents released by the Scottish executive shows the shocking depth of collusion over the dispute.

The documents (relevant extracts below), published after requests by RMT and Coatbridge and Chryston MSP Elaine Smith, show clearly that:

Scotrail horse-traded with Transport Scotland over the additional cost of training and paying an army of scabs used during the dispute, offering to ‘cap’ its claim at £300,000 – almost exactly the amount it would have cost to settle the dispute.

Scottish ministers instructed Scotrail to go ahead with expansion of driver-only operation, despite an agreement between the company and RMT to the contrary.

Scotrail thratened the government that it would not go ahead with expansion of DOO unless ministers agreed to indemnify it against losses from industrial action.

Transport for Scotland told Scotrail that expansion of the railways should not be constrained by “unnecessary expenditure” – but Transport Minister Stevenson later told RMT in a face to face meeting that there was no economic case for scrapping guards on the Airdrie-Bathgate line.

“These documents show a level of union-bashing from the SNP government as shocking as the dark days of Thatcher and should make Alex Salmond, Stewart Stevenson and the rest of them blush with shame,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

“We held meetings in good faith with Stevenson, who told us in so many words that there was no economic case for scrapping guards, yet all the while his department was actually instructing Scotrail to tear up its agreement with us.

“Scotrail even told the government that it would not go ahead with DOO extension unless it was indemnified against losses resulting from a strike it knew it would provoke, and now we also know that they even negotiated over the cost of training and paying scabs.”