Reader Comments:

Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.

• jak jaye, sutton coldfield

  When will the moron millionds who travel by rail wake up and smell the coffee
  you(we) are paying Billions more then BR days to run the same crap network,no? just take a daily look at the National Rail Timetle site,every day there's a broken down train,signal failure somewhere.
  And please put to bed the idea that ScotRail is a poor small railway,its owned by one of THE most useless TOC...ever (FirstCapitalConnect anyone?)
  
  The 'alleged' offence in question that so many on here were witness too is
  beside the point,and as RMT point out its not one way traffic,ive seen Conducters sworn at,and threatend while a carriage load of passengers just sit there buried in there mobiles etc.
  I havent go much time for Crowe either but he does sometimes tell it like it is.

• Roger, Bathgate, uk

  Ticket examiner reinstated? NO. RMT members unhappy with some leaving? YES. Congratulations RMT, hope you find the whole experience was worth it! Now the real working class can get on with planning to see their families over Christmas.

• jim fisher, Greenock

  I am not surprised this person has been assaulted 4 times in the course of his duties if he brings this attitude to work with him. As a union supporter all my working life, on this occasion I totally agree with Scorail.s management's decision.

• Philip Russell, Carlisle

  I dont think when the John Major government first privatised the railways in the style that it did , it fully realised just how vulnerable these smaller companies were to strikes and disputes affecting their revenue etc, Since then these companies have tried to suck up to the unions far more than British Rail ever did in an effort to avoid disputes etc, resulting in the unions having more power now than they ever did certainly in the latter years of nationalisation

• Roger, Bathgate, uk

  Willie, you say it's a democratic union and that a minority want to strike? Not very democratic if the minority rules is it? Some union you belong to. I suppose it's just a snap shot of how this country is run now a days!
  Why dont the MAJORITY of you get together and stand up for yourselves, your colleagues and the fare paying public? Why I ask?

• matthew brown, castle douglas

  i am due to travel on the 22nd i have to say i back scotrail and not RMT and here is why i am registered blind therefor has a train pass. The amount of times that staff have been rude to me is shocking not just on scotrail but tpexpress,east coast. I can recall one time about 3 years i was going from aberdeen to dundee as he walks down saying tickets i have my pass ready in my hand he says me as right this has to stop i say sorry what not knowing what he is trying to say he then went on to say i dont have time for you now. I do think that alot of staff are rude i have had staff that are also nice. regards Matt

• Roger, Bathgate, uk

  The workers were misled by the RMT at the voting stage and so they should be re-balloted. For a union to target the general public at Christmas is an absolute disgrace. It would affect the company more if a 48 hour strike was called, but Christmas Eve?
  
  The services finish earlier on the 24th and so the impact is even less on scotrail. Boaby Crow is deliberately targeting Scottish people who need to travel to or from England as close to Christmas Day as possible. We can only hope that RMT members within the company have a mind of their own and do what they feel is right, after all 75% either never voted or voted NO to a strike.
  
  A serious error of judgement has been made by the RMT and they will rue this for a long time to come! The Scottish public will not stand for it. Who do the RMT think they are to ruin this Christian event and our important time with loved ones?

• willie, glasgow

  I am currently employed with scotrail and unfortunately i am one of the many members of staff who are not happy at going on strike on christmas eve. Not only do i think its a bad idea for the union but it will be a terrible burden on the traveling public, there is also a good few members of staff that i know who are very unhappy about the result of the ballot and do not want to go on strike. But unfortunately the very small minority do and as its a democratic union we must comply. So please remember not all RMT members are happy about this course of action especially those with families who will be losing money at this time of year. But with any luck it will get resolved before it begins

• Angus Will, Glasgow

  Why make this a public affair and ruin thousands of peoples Christmas's?
  Sack the man in charge of the Union for making such a silly decision like this.
  What has it got to do with the public, sort your battle out like mature adults not like children.

• Rod Dawson, Liverpool

  My wife and I are due to travel from Preston (Lancs) to Inverness on 22nd December to spend Christmas with our son and fiancee. We have bought tickets in advance and are obviously concerned as to what we might expect when we change trains in Edinburgh.
  I do not have much sympathy with the stance taken by the union over the sacking, particularly the timing of the strike and the effect that this will have on the general public. As a lawyer who used to deal with employment issues, I cannot understand why the union does not pursue this case to an employment tribunal and let the matter be decided that way. To go out on strike only serves to make people more antagonistic and less sympathetic to their cause. It appears that the case has already proceeded through the disciplinary appeals procedure, and if Scott Lewis case is so compelling why does he not get on with an application to an employment tribunal. If he has a good case he should then be reinstated without any loss of pay.
  Equally from what I read about what happened I have to wonder whether this is a situation where sacking is the appropriate response. It sounds more like a case at most for a final written warning; what is unclear is whether Scott Lewis had received any previous warnings and whether he was the subject of a final written warning. If he was then his position is very much weaker.
  But the case cries out for mediation - why haven't ACAS been called in? What is the Scottish government doing to try to resolve the situation? The whole scenario smacks of a return to the dark ages.
  So the message to the RMT and Scotrail is - get it sorted, and preferably before Dec 22nd.
  Rod Dawson

• Tony Pearce, Reading UK

  And this is 'News' ? It be real 'News' if the RMT was working normally on the whole Network over Christmas. That would be really astounding. The travelling public used to refer sarcastically to the 'British Rail School of Charm'. I see nothing has changed with Privatisation and it is still alive and kicking. Let me amend that slightly - may I award a Bouquet to the Ticket Office Clerks at Tilehurst who have over the last 30 years been exceptionally polite and helpful to me. But in general Railway Staff are often confrontational and instead of calming things down, pour petrol on difficult situations.

• John Gilbert, Cradley, Herefordshire

  "Massive own-goal for the Union?" as Kris from Ayrshire says. But they don't care about that if they can cause upset out of all proportion to the grievance. And it does make one ponder at Bob Crow's endless calls for the railways to be renationalised, which to me simply means he would have endless opporrtunities to call the whole of the UK's railways our on strike, rather than just one part - in this case Scotland. I don't trust that man and his "concerns." Nationalisation had many benefits despite what right wingers on the political stage always said, but one of them was most certainly NOT the ability of the Leftwing leaders of Unions to paralyse the whole rail system whenever they fancied.

• James Palma, London

  1). Oh dear. RMT on strike again?
  2). Can someone please gag Bob Crow, he is boring?
  3). Interesting to see that the conductor has been assaulted four times. I wonder why?

• Ian McConnachie, Edinburgh

  If we believe the customer the guard did not handle the situation well. Then he should be retrained and possibly disciplined but less severely than a sacking (the victim does not want hime sacked. I am sick of Scotrail and furious that my holiday plans are being threatened by two stupied and inflexible sides. We have the most expensive and worst train service in Europe. I think we the public should have our own protest and thousands should get on at an umanned station without paying on a selected day to the expense of a crap rail company that takes us for granted or boycott the rail company completely for one week.

• Kris, Ayrshire

  Let me begin by saying that I support unions in principle, when they are used to protect the rights of workers against exploitative companies or oppressive working conditions. The rights of workers should be at the forefront of all union activity – that’s why I am so disgusted at the move by the RMT to call a strike on Christmas eve.
  
  Think of all the workers that are having to traipse into work that day, who will now face increased difficulty and hardship, because a union has decided to deliberately cause the maximum amount of inconvenience to the greatest number of people. This was a dispute between one member and the company – now it affects a million other people who, quite frankly, couldn’t give a damn about the employee in question. He verbally abused a passenger, the passenger complained and the conductor was sacked. If it was unfair dismissal, go to a tribunal, like the rest of us plebs have to do.
  
  The RMT defence that the conductor ‘has been assaulted many times in the course of his duty’ is no defence whatsoever – two wrongs do not make a right, for a start. Maybe the conductor has been assaulted so much because he IS actually an aggressive guy, and the previous passengers he insulted or confronted didn’t start greetin’ – they punched him instead? We don’t know any of this for sure, so the RMT defence is paper-thin. No doubt Scotrail will portray the conductor as a thug, and RMT will portray him as an angel. The truth, as ever, is likely to be somewhere in between.
  
  Now, I know that – in order to be effective – a strike has to cause some disruption by its very nature. However, you have to question the motives of any organization who deliberately try to cause maximum disruption to people who are entirely innocent, and have nothing to do with this dispute. Us plain old non-unionised private sector workers are going to lose out on wages if we are late, we face having to get buses instead of trains and basically our commute to work that day is likely to be a total nightmare.
  Whilst the union has a duty to protect its members, and whilst I accept that they have to hit the company hard in order to get what they want, the RMT have been entirely cynical in the way they have attacked both shoppers and (more importantly from a union perspective) the hard-working, working–class people who can’t afford to get to work any other way than by the train. It’s cynical in the extreme, and RMT are not endearing themselves to anyone by doing this. Passenger opinion has already turned against the union, and considering that most commuters HATE Scotrail, it takes some doing to make passengers side with them!
  This isn’t about passengers being selfish – 99% of passengers travel with tickets and respect rail staff, many are union members themselves in their own profession, and most would support a guy who’s been sacked unfairly. However, RMT have effectively punished thousands of commuters for little purpose. Scotrail’s profits won’t even be hit, because they can just go and ask the Scottish government for more money. So the taxpayer will be picking up the bill for overtime and other costs incurred by the company. Passengers can’t turn to other train operators, because we have a state-sponsored monopoly in Scotland. So I ask the powers that be within the RMT – who really suffers as a result of this strike, and what exactly are you trying to achieve?
  
  This is a massive own-goal for the union. I would urge all passengers to make their feelings known to any picket lines they happen to come across on the 24th December. I’m sure RMT members will appreciate your feedback. Just don’t upset them too much, or they’ll call another strike for the 3rd & 4th January.