National strike threatens to stop all trains across Scotland

The RMT union is announcing one day walk outs on the 21st, 23rd and 25th of June

Author: Chloe ShawPublished 8th Jun 2022

Scotrail's warning it may not be able to run any services when up to 50 thousand staff walk out across the UK later this month.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail and 13 train operators will walk out on June 21st, 23rd and 25th.

It's the biggest outbreak of industrial action in the industry in a generation.

The RMT said rail staff who worked through the pandemic were facing pay freezes and hundreds of job cuts.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: "Railway workers have been treated appallingly and despite our best efforts in negotiations, the rail industry with the support of the government has failed to take their concerns seriously.

"We have a cost-of-living crisis, and it is unacceptable for railway workers to either lose their jobs or face another year of a pay freeze when inflation is at 11.1% and rising.

"Our union will now embark on a sustained campaign of industrial action which will shut down the railway system."

Mr Lynch added that the union was "open to meaningful negotiations with rail bosses and ministers, but they will need to come up with new proposals to prevent months of disruption on our railways".

The union said more than 50,000 railway workers will walk out on June 21, adding that the action will affect the national railway network for the entire week.

Rail Delivery Group Chairman Steve Montgomery said the strikes were "needless and damaging".

Warning to Scotland fans ahead of Nations League match

Scotrail has warned football fans they will have to leave the Scotland's first Nations League fixture before the game ends if they want to get home.

The last train of the night back to Glasgow Central will leave before the final whistle.

Newly nationalised ScotRail has urged those heading to Hampden Park for the Scotland v Armenia game on Wednesday to consider their travel options after the operator was forced to cut the number of services.

Train services will end before final whistle

Kick off is at 7.45pm but the last train of the night from Mount Florida, the national stadium's closet station, back to Glasgow Central will leave before the final whistle.

ScotRail said there will also be very limited journey opportunities departing from Glasgow Central and Glasgow Queen Street after the match, with no trains on most routes out of the city centre.

Phil Campbell, ScotRail's head of customer operations, said the operator was "doing all we can to help football fans head to Hampden and cheer on the national team".

But he warned: "Customers should be aware that the last trains of the night will depart Mount Florida before the final whistle, so we urge fans to plan ahead and consider their travel options."

Talks with Scotrail to resume on Thursday

Some 700 services have been cut from the ScotRail timetable as a pay dispute rumbles on, with members of the Aslef union refusing to work on rest days as a result.

Talks aimed at ending a pay dispute between Scotland's rail provider and train drivers will resume on Thursday, the union has said.

The union previously agreed an offer from ScotRail, but it was later rejected by the executive committee.

Talks resumed on Monday, before being adjourned within a matter of hours, but ScotRail deemed the discussions to be "constructive".

ScotRail encouraged fans to get to the ground as early as possible as trains would be busy, with the turnstiles at Hampden Park opening at 6pm.

The operator also urged people to buy tickets ahead of time on the ScotRail app of via the mTicket system.

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