Six months to save ScotRail – TSSA demonstrates outside First Minister's official house

TSSA yesterday (Tuesday) expressed disappointment that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon refused to come and meet them at their "Six months to save ScotRail" demonstration at Bute House on Wednesday.

Members of TSSA attended the demo along with members from our sister rail unions – Aslef, RMT & Unite – to mark World Car Free Day on 22 September and to warn that the next six months are crucial to protect ScotRail’s future.

The Abellio franchise will end in March and unions fear that their chaotic mismanagement of services will leave a railway in an even deeper crisis as they depart the scene and were demanding the First Minister intervene to block the cuts.

TSSA General Secretary, Manuel Cortes, said, 

"On World Car Free Day, TSSA and our sister unions demonstrated outside Bute House against Abellio’s reckless plans to cut 100,000 services a year from Scotland’s railways.

"We also protested against the Docherty report which disgracefully recommends using the Covid 19 pandemic as 'cover' to cut services, jobs and ticket offices – a real slap in the face to workers who put their lives at risk running trains through the pandemic.

"We invited Nicola Sturgeon to come out and meet us on Wednesday to talk face to face to the people who really understand how ScotRail works – the ones who work on it every day. It’s disappointing that she didn’t take us up on the invitation.

"If Sturgeon is serious about addressing the climate emergency then she needs to put the plans to cut ScotRail services where they belong – in the bin!"