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| Rail union announces new strikes | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Two further 48-hour strikes are due to cause commuter chaos across Scotland, it was announced on Friday. | Two further 48-hour strikes are due to cause commuter chaos across Scotland, it was announced on Friday. |
| Strike action is to continue over working hours and the RMT will ballot UK members about joining the dispute. | |
| Staff in Scotland will strike from Friday, 16 March, to Sunday, 18 March and on Monday, 19 March to Wednesday, 21 March. | |
| Network Rail called for further talks and said they would try to minimise disruption to passengers. | |
| The RMT executive announced plans to ballot more than 4,000 signalling and supervisory members throughout Britain. | |
| The row is over proposed changes to shift patterns and centres on how a 35-hour week, agreed last July, is to be implemented nationally. It has been largely accepted in England and Wales. | |
| First strike action between noon on Friday 16 March and Sunday 18 MarchSecond strike action between noon on Monday 19 March and Wednesday 21 MarchThe dispute is about working hours. RMT claimed it has an agreement for its members to work a three-day, 35-hour week but they said this has not been implemented by the employers. Network Rail said local agreements had been reached across 80% of Britain, including Scotland. | |
| Strike action between Wednesday 7 March, and Friday 9 March, caused widespread disruption across Scotland. | |
| RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "Our members are adamant that the deal we signed last July should be implemented properly and in full, and after consulting reps around Scotland we will today be informing Network Rail of two further 48-hour strikes. | |
| "Network Rail have been drafting in scab managers from around the country in their attempt to undermine our members' strike, and evidence is emerging of serious safety breaches that affect our members throughout Britain. | |
| "The 35-hour week deal was a UK-wide deal, and the company's blatant reneging on the assurances they gave us over its implementation also has serious implications for our members throughout Britain. | |
| "As a result the RMT executive will also now be informing Network Rail of our intention to ballot signalling and supervisory staff for strike action across the UK rail network." | |
| Our message is crystal clear, the only way to resolve this dispute is through discussion, and our door is wide open David SimpsonNetwork Rail route director for Scotland | |
| David Simpson, Network Rail route director for Scotland, said union claims about safety were "completely without foundation". | |
| He added: "We categorically deny that any safety risk has been caused to passengers during this strike. | |
| "Once again, the RMT is using scaremongering tactics to justify their unnecessary, unjustified strike action. | |
| "Our message is crystal clear, the only way to resolve this dispute is through discussion, and our door is wide open. | |
| "We once again call upon the RMT to join us at Acas so we can settle this dispute. We are setting up a meeting on Monday with Acas and extend an invitation to the RMT to join us." | |
| James King of rail group Passenger Focus said the impact of the industrial action on the public and the economy had been significant. | |
| He told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme: "Over the three days of the strike so far we estimate that had the trains been running normally, something like 600,000 journeys would have been made. | |
| "A significant proportion of those will not have been made - at enormous economic and social cost to those affected." |