27 January 2005

Strike action closes Subway

Glasgow's Subway is expected to be closed on Monday 31 January due to industrial action by members of the Transport & General Workers Union.

The planned action is part of a dispute over the annual pay award and changes to holidays cycles and involves drivers, permanent way and station staff.

SPT has laid on two free bus services on Monday to help passengers deal with the disruption. Both operate every 10 minutes from 6.30am till 11.30pm. The first leaves from the First Bus stance (No 38) in Jamaica Street and goes to Shields Road. The second goes from Govan to Partick.

A limited shuttle service will also be available on the Subway running between Hillhead and Buchanan Street from 2pm till 6pm.

First ScotRail will also be accepting all Subway Season and multi-journey tickets on rail services along the Subway's route.

Douglas Ferguson, SPT's Director of Operations said, "We are doing our best to minimise the disruption to travellers and settle this dispute as quickly as possible. Our door is always open and we are ready to sit down with the TGWU whenever they want to but our options are limited.

"While there isn't any scope to improve the pay deal there are improved conditions of service on offer as part of our drive for increased productivity and flexibility but the longer the dispute drags on, the less money will be available to pay for these.

"We operate a public service and passengers need to know that when they turn up at a Subway station they can rely on the service. Health and safety rules oblige us to have minimum staff levels to operate the Subway. Like any other transport operator this means we have to have staff rotas and programme in holidays so there aren't peaks and troughs in staffing levels.

"We have always tried to accommodate holiday requests and our current proposals are actually to extend the core times when staff can take their holidays. The new timings are designed to let staff take time off during the newly-fixed school Easter breaks and recognise that the days when every business in Glasgow shut for the Fair Fortnight are long past. We need to be more flexible to provide the service our customers want.

"We are also working hard to meet the requirements of the Working Time Directive. This is a cornerstone of national TGWU policy. It is designed to make sure staff have adequate breaks between shifts and do not work excessive hours. These are important safety factors for any public transport provider. Rail workers, bus and coach drivers must take rest breaks by law to make sure they are alert and fit to drive.

Changes to rosters and staffing levels to meet this legislation were introduced in 2003 after agreement with the affected unions was reached through joint discussion of the way forward. It has led to a reduction in overtime working but it has also led to the creation of 12 new jobs."

ends

Notes to editors

Some 160,000 local authority workers covering the entire range of local government skills and responsibilities have accepted the same pay deal - a 2.95% increase from 1 April 2004 and a 2.95 increase from 1 April 2005. The deal has also been accepted by all other SPT employees.

The 12 local authorities in the SPT area fund Strathclyde Passenger Transport. Their budgets are geared up to the existing pay award. There isn't any more money available from them to pay for additional rises outside the agreed pay deal.