UNION chiefs insist that the Scottish Government could end the ferry strike now by forcing CalMac and Serco, who are bidding for the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services contract, to guarantee job security, conditions and pensions for workers.
Around 700 staff who work for CalMac are involved in a two-day overtime ban culminating in a one-day strike tomorrow, which is expected to cause mass disruption for islanders relying on the lifeline services and tourists about to begin their holidays.
However, the RMT has appealed to the Government to put a stop to the strike by putting a clause into the Invitation To Tender (ITT) documentation that whoever wins the bid must protect jobs, terms and conditions, and pensions.
The dispute was triggered after it was announced CalMac’s contract to run the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services would come to an end next year after the Scottish Government put the contract out to tender. The Government insists it had no choice and that it has to happen in line with European law.
Workers fear that a tendering bid could see routes change hands from publicly-owned CalMac to private firm Serco and insisted the dispute was “about defending the lifeline ferry services long into the future”.
RMT’s regional organiser Gordon Martin said: “We would be appealing to the Scottish Government to make it a condition of the ITT that there will be no compulsory redundancies, no changes to terms and conditions without agreement with the unions and the pensions are protected.
“This would mean that whoever won the bid would know that is a condition of their contract and they would have to adhere to it. If the Government did that right now, this dispute would be over.”
But the Scottish Government said it was restricted by law to enforce these guarantees.
Transport Scotland, the Government’s national transport executive agency, said: “Under procurement regulations we cannot compel bidders to guarantee no compulsory redundancies.
“Bidders can make such a commitment through tendering processes, as was the case in the recent ScotRail Franchise.”
As the first day of industrial action began yesterday, Minister for Transport and Islands Derek Mackay announced that an independent panel is being set up to ensure the procurement of the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) contract is fair, open and transparent.
The six to ten strong panel of people representing local communities and interested groups including the trade unions will be asked to review and offer comment on the next three stages of the tendering process leading up to the final invitation to tender in December.
Commenting on the first day of the dispute, Martin said: “CalMac have been advising that there is some disruption but the real disruption, unfortunately, is going to come tomorrow with the strike action.”
He added: “Our members have had overwhelming support from the public.
“As we all know Serco’s bid will be a race to the bottom and CalMac, unfortunately, will be racing to the bottom with them.
“We refuse to stand idly by and watch a race to the bottom for our members.
“And if, to defend our members pensions, jobs security and terms and conditions means we have to disrupt the ferry service for a period of time, I am sorry but that is just a price that we have been forced into having to make.”
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