TSSA demands pre-election meetings over CalMac pay dispute

TSSA has written to Scottish Ferries Minister Paul Wheelhouse seeking an urgent meeting about their pay dispute with CalMac Ferries and calling for parity with other Scottish Government employees.

The union is in dispute with CalMac, a company wholly owned by the Scottish Government, over pay after TSSA members, many on less than £30,000 a year, turned down a below-inflation 0.5% pay increase in 2020. For the same pay period - 2020 to 2021 - the Scottish Government dished out 3% pay rises to public sector employees earning up to £80,000 a year. 

TSSA General Secretary Manuel Cortes said: 

“This is about fairness and justice. Our members are on low pay, many making much less than £30,000 a year. A below-inflation pay rise is effectively a pay cut. All they’re asking for is a pay rise that means they can keep paying their bills.

“TSSA members in CalMac have gone into work, every day, throughout the pandemic and keept the lifeline ferry services running. But CalMac – which is owned and run by the Scottish Government – aren’t willing to recognise that commitment, offering a paltry 0.5% – effectively a pay cut.

“Now we find that other staff in the Scottish public sector, earning up to £80,000, are pocketing 3% payrises. If the Scottish government can find the budget to fund inflation-busting payrises in one part of the public sector, surely they can find it for CalMac staff who’ve put their lives on the line for the last twelve months.

“My message to Paul Wheelhouse is simple. Let’s sit down and discuss this now, before the Holyrood elections begin.”