Why a ScotRail pay dispute breakthrough could come from an unexpected quarter

Could new UK government help moves towards resolution?

For regular ScotRail passengers, it’s been Groundhog Day.

Two years from the last major dispute, and we’re back to a significantly reduced timetable plus the additional irritant of dozens of additional cancellations announced with hours to spare.

Although those cancellations appear to be reducing significantly, we’re not in a good place with major events such as the Edinburgh Festival little more than a week away.

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Passengers at Glasgow Queen Street, among stations where ScotRail services have been reduced.Passengers at Glasgow Queen Street, among stations where ScotRail services have been reduced.
Passengers at Glasgow Queen Street, among stations where ScotRail services have been reduced. | John Devlin/The Scotsman

Both the train drivers’ union Aslef and the RMT, ScotRail’s biggest union, are holding strike ballots after rejecting a pay offer.

But, when I revealed the unrest last month and Aslef’s threat to a stage a vote, I also pointed out the risk of more immediate disruption if drivers simply decided to no longer volunteer for overtime - and so it came to pass.

ScotRail, along with other train operators, have long depended on such “rest day working” to run all its trains, especially on Sundays, which have been hit the hardest.

Last weekend, they ran only every three hours on some routes compared to hourly, in an extraordinary reduction in service.

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At the end of the previous dispute, Scottish Government-owned ScotRail admitted it would take until 2027 to recruit and train sufficient drivers to eliminate the need for voluntary working.

This year, the rejected pay offer of some 9 per cent was over three years. The key for passengers is for a deal to be agreed that would last that long - so they’d see an end to the sort of disruption being endured even though there’s no official industrial action.

Last year, the Scottish Government congratulated itself there was no ScotRail pay dispute at a time when drivers’ strikes plagued other operators. A sign of hope is that with a change of UK government, a deal in that separate dispute can be finally reached.

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Following initial talks on Tuesday described by Aslef as “constructive”, general secretary Mick Whelan said: “We can, and we will, get a good deal done.”

He had met none other than the UK Department for Transport’s rail services director general Alex Hynes, who was previously in charge of ScotRail.

Could this be just the catalyst that could lead to a solution north of the Border too?

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