ScotRail engineers who are members of Unite the Union will go on strike during the crucial COP26 climate talks to be held in Glasgow next month.
A series of 24 hour walk-outs will take place in the coming weeks due to what Unite dubs as "reckless" actions from the management of Abellio Scotrail and their "failure" to make a meaningful pay offer.
The walkouts will coincide with COP26 on the following dates: October 18-19, November 1-2, November 10-11 and November 12-13.
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A number of rail depots, workplaces and stations will be impacted by the strike action. This includes Bathgate Depot, Corkerhill (Glasgow) Depot, Dalmuir, Glasgow Central, Glasgow Queen Street, Edinburgh Haymarket Depot, Edinburgh Waverley, Inverness Depot, Motherwell, Perth, Shields (Glasgow) Depot, and Yoker Depot. The strike action will commence at different times on the aforementioned dates at the various locations.
Strike action for conductors has been ongoing for around six months which has caused widespread disruption on the rail network on Sundays.
It is understood crunch pay talks are set to take place tomorrow but Unite claim "no pay offer" has been out on the table.
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Pat McIlvogue, Unite industrial officer, said: “Unite has been left with no choice but to resolutely respond to the reckless behaviour displayed by Abellio Scotrail management.
"While discussions have continued these talks have produced absolutely nothing. There has been no pay offer and no movement by the company. The talks have been spun out and cynically used as a delaying tactic to avoid the national embarrassment of having strike action during the COP26 climate change conference which is being held in Glasgow.
"Well, these tactics have spectacularly backfired because our engineering members will now hold several 24 hour stoppages in the coming weeks.”
“We want the Scottish public to know that we have exhausted the process. Unite’s members have been holding action short of strike in an attempt to get Abellio Scotrail to wake up, and to recognise the storm that they have created to no effect.
"Now strike action will severely disrupt events and the COP26 climate change conference due to this shambolic company. The Scottish Government and Transport Scotland must urgently intervene because the Abellio Scotrail management clearly lack the ability, humility and intelligence to live up to their responsibilities with respect to the workforce, and the Scottish public.”
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