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Rail unions to tell Sturgeon she has six months to save ScotRail

RAIL workers are set to protest in Edinburgh tomorrow, to tell Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon that she has just six months to save Scotland’s rail services from collapse.

They plan to demonstrate outside Bute House, the home of the First Minister, and call for the country’s rail services to be taken into public ownership.

The demonstration follows months of chaos in which ScotRail operator Abellio — the Netherlands’ state-owned rail company — has been in a dispute over pay with the network’s four unions: RMT, Aslef, TSSA and Unite.

The Scottish government is now considering axing hundreds of thousands of services after Abellio’s “chaotic management” of ScotRail, the unions said.

A report to the Scottish Parliament is recommending that 300 services per day be abandoned.

Abellio’s franchise to operate services ends in March next year.

The unions are calling for a “people’s ScotRail” to be publicly owned and run.

A joint statement from the four unions said: “We are telling Nicola Sturgeon that she has six months to save ScotRail.

“Abellio’s shambolic mismanagement threatens to leave our railways in crisis.

“We have the unprecedented situation where all four unions are in dispute with an employer that appears to have no idea how to run a railway. 

“We fear that they will leave yet more damage in their wake as they depart the franchise.

“We want to see a publicly owned, clean, green and affordable railway that is well staffed and meets the needs of our communities and the economy while helping to address the climate crisis.”

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