LONDON — The latest talks aimed at resolving a Scottish train drivers’ dispute have broken down, BBC News reports.
ScotRail met union representatives at the Glasgow offices of the conciliation service Acas on Thursday.
However, little progress appears to have been made during the six hours of talks.
A further 24-hour strike by ScotRail drivers is now set to go ahead on Tuesday.
Members of Aslef and the Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT) have already staged three stoppages this month, bringing the Scottish rail network to a virtual standstill.
Earlier talks under the auspices of Acas broke down last week.
Union leaders walked out last Friday, claiming that ScotRail’s offer of £26,295 – rising to £27,896 by January 2004 – was “totally unacceptable” because of cuts in public holidays and sickness pay.
Drivers demonstrated outside ScotRail’s Glasgow offices on Wednesday to show the “strength of feeling” over the row.
The unions said they are demanding parity with colleagues working for other services elsewhere in the UK.
ScotRail’s acting managing director, Nick Brown, described the unions’ stance as “madness”.
Question time
However, the company stressed it was willing to have further talks with the unions.
The strike was also a subject of discussion at first minister’s question time in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday.
Tory Leader David McLetchie called on Jack McConnell to act over the dispute and accused the Scottish Executive of washing its hands of the matter.
He also warned that a strategy aimed at getting people to use public transport was now under threat.
“How can this strategy work if our trains are not only not running on time, but they are in fact not even running at all?” he asked.
However, Mr McConnell said it would be “totally wrong” of him to tell ScotRail how to conduct its industrial relations.
He said the executive had been calling on the unions and management to find a negotiated settlement to the row from the beginning – a call which he repeated again.
“It should be a case of the parties involved getting round the table, conducting modern industrial relations, making sure there is a bit of give and take on both sides and ultimately that the passengers in Scotland’s railway system are put first,” he said.