RMT steps up pressure ahead of "Keep CalMac Public" Demo

SHIPPING UNION RMT stepped up the pressure on the Scottish Government ahead of a demonstration involving CalMac members and RMT activists today from 11.30am to 1.00pm, outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, to coincide with the re-assembly after the elections earlier this month. ‎

In what will be its first major announcement on transport policy, the winning bid for the next contract for Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) will be made by 31st May. The only bidders are the current public sector operator Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) and the private company Serco. The RMT demonstration will be demanding to know which way the SNP and the Scottish Government will go with this crucial decision.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said:

“Today the newly crowned SNP government face the acid test of their claims to stand up for public services and the working people of Scotland. Do they back the workers’ or do they back big business? That is the question that RMT members from the Calmac Clyde and Hebrides routes will be putting to Nicola Sturgeon and her colleagues in Edinburgh later this morning.

“There can be no hiding behind the Westminster Government or the EU and there can be no equivocation or slippery political attempts to create the impression that the future of the lifeline Calmac ferry routes is somehow out of the Scottish Government’s hands.

“This is the Government’s decision and it is there’s alone. Serco, the specialists in failure with form as long as your arm, are waiting in the wings while the workforce are left in no man’s land before this crucial decision is made. The question to the SNP government is “which side are you on?.”