Question reference: S6W-07946
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 7 April 2022
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Current status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 18 May 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings it had with trade unions, staff representatives and passenger or transport groups between December 2019 and March 2022 in relation to the nationalisation of Scotland’s railways.
Answer
Between December 2019 to March 2022 Transport Scotland undertook regular meetings with trade unions, staff representatives and passenger/transport groups at which the subject of ScotRail services moving to a Scottish Government owned operator i.e. ScotRail Trains Limited from 1 April 2022 would have been discussed.
The former Minister for Transport, Mr Dey, met with the collective Rail Trade Unions twice and individually with them once, with the exception of RMT who declined to meet at the time. There was a third collective meeting schedule to take place on the day Mr Dey resigned.
I have had one collective Rail Trade Unions meeting and have held five individual meetings with Trade Union representatives. Public ownership was discussed at all these meetings along with other issues such as pay negotiations and industrial relations for example.
The former Minister for Transport also met with Transport Focus and I met with Transport Focus on 21 April where I provided an update on the transition from Abellio ScotRail to ScotRail Trains Ltd.