TICKET examiners on ScotRail have voted in favour of strikes in a dispute over pay.

The result was 238 in favour and 44 against. ScotRail has expressed its ‘disappointment’, but the RMT had said that Abellio ScotRail was a company ‘that had opted to declare war’ on its staff,

ScotRail conductors have already started to stage 24-hour strikes every Sunday from 28 March, and these are set to continue until 2 May.

ScotRail said it ‘will await further information from the RMT about the outcome of the action and the impact this will have on train services’. 

It warned that some services might have to be cancelled, but said it would do everything possible to maintain services for key workers.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: ‘Our ticket examiners have now joined our conductor members in this fight for equality with other ScotRail grades over enhanced payments and it’s now time for Abellio to get out of their bunker and do the right thing by their staff. 

‘The political leadership in Scotland can no longer sit on the fence and ignore these disputes in their back yard. It's time for serious talks, a serious approach to workplace fairness and justice and a serious solution to ‎be reached.’

ScotRail added that its passenger numbers and revenue remain more than 90 per cent down compared with before the pandemic. Coronavirus restrictions, including the instruction for people to work from home, have resulted in the number of people travelling with ScotRail to ‘plummet’.

There has been emergency Scottish Government support worth over £400 million since March 2020, and ScotRail said it hadn’t cut any permanent jobs, reduced wages, cut terms and conditions, used furlough, or cut any employee benefits. A further agreement has been reached with the Scottish Government to run trains until September.