GLASGOW has reacted to the industrial action affecting rail services across the city and beyond.
Members of the Rail, Maritime, and Transport (RMT) Union at Network Rail began striking on Wednesday morning, with just five services running across Scotland.
A picket line has been mounted outside Glasgow Central Station, and the Glasgow Times spoke to rail users, local businesses, and those on the picket line for their thoughts.
Loretta Cunningham, who travelled to Glasgow to visit her son, fully supports industrial action as a means of getting people to listen to workers’ needs.
She said: “I always support the right to strike - sometimes it’s the only way people will listen, and I think it dates to 1888 when the matchstick women were the first people to go on strike and it’s the only way that we’ll listen sometimes.
“That’s my feelings on the subject, I totally support them.”
Meanwhile, Alex Harren, 52, visiting Glasgow from the Netherlands, doesn’t feel that strikes are ‘necessary’.
He said: “A positive thing of the strike is that I can browse the railway station because it’s not crowded at all, it’s very quiet.
“I think that the payment, as I understand it, is not really that bad, so, I don’t know if it’s really necessary to have strikes.
“You see it everywhere at the moment and there is a war going on in Ukraine and I think that we all have to carry a little bit of the pain.”
While Kyle O’Neill, 25, from Port Glasgow, thinks it’s “perfect” that people are standing up for themselves, but does struggles when his transport to the city is affected.
He said: “The only problem is I can’t get home, I can’t travel.
“But at least somebody’s standing up for themselves and hopefully they win.”
Mrs Frater, 83, who did not wish to provide her first name, thinks the strikes are ‘unfair’ on the commuting public.
She said: “I think they’re quite well paid, but it’s entirely up to them if they don’t think they’re well paid.
“But I don’t think it’s fair to people who are trying to get back to normal and get back to work.”
Christine Cunningham said: “It doesn’t affect me, but I think they must be striking for a reason, and I support it for that reason.”
Some members of the public showed their support for the union workers by joining them at the picket line.
Mr Ferguson, who did not want to be fully named due to his job, shared his reasons for showing solidarity with the union, and how it reflects on society.
He said: “They provide a vital service and it’s only when it goes away that we realise how vital the service is.
“Inflation has been creeping up for the last 20 years and none of them have seen a decent pay rise for years.
“I think that we have to support it because their fight represents the fight that society has.”
Mr Ferguson added that the demonstration has received a generally positive reception.
He said: “The response we’re getting from people walking by is quite positive. People are really happy and keen to take a leaflet and stop and talk to us."
But in the nearby surroundings of Central Station, local businesses are concerned about how the industrial action may affect footfall.
Wendy McDermott, 58, who works at local coffee shop The Root of Magic, said: “I’m worried that after our kids class this morning, we won’t have very many people in.
“We’re depending on tourists or people that are already in the city centre.”
She added: “I don’t really support the strikes. This is the last thing that the city centre needs, people need to be able to get to their work.”
Meanwhile, strike action affects trade and the wages of local shop assistant Waqar Ahmed and his manager, but the 38-year-old supports the workers’ needs and hopes it will be resolved quickly.
He said: “We understand their demands. Obviously, they want a pay rise, and they have a legal right to do this, but unfortunately we suffer a lot because we don’t have any footfall today and we are so quiet, and it doesn’t cover two people’s wages as well.
“We hope they solve their problems quickly and our business can go back to normal.
“We can’t do anything, we just have to have patience, but I wish best of luck to the staff. They should get the pay rise.”
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