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CALMAC ferry crews are to take industrial action in protest against plans to hand west coast ­services to controversial private firm Serco.

Members of the RMT union will impose a ban on overtime for 72 hours starting on Wednesday.

Then they will refuse to go on duty when vessels are in port a week on Friday as most schools’ holidays begin.

Crews are making a stand against plans by the SNP government to sell vital services to their favourite private sector operator, Serco.

The move comes as the Daily Record launches an appeal for the Scottish Government to abandon the £1billion sale.

Caledonian MacBrayne provide vital trade, tourism and commercial links for people on the western seaboard.

(Image: Robin McKelvie)

Dozens of ferries and hundreds of dedicated crew have made sure that the network of sea routes to more than 20 islands have been maintained for decades.

For more than half that time CalMac have been state-owned. Bad weather, vessel-break downs and peaks and surges in demand have been met by years of ­experience and the flexibility and goodwill of crews, captains, the company and the communities they serve.

Northern Isles ferry services have already been sold off to Serco and now the Edinburgh ­government wants to do the same for the Western Isles.

CalMac and Serco are the only competitors for the tender.

Trade unions believe there is no reason for the Scottish Government to press ahead with the process.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “Members on CalMac rightly feel that they are caught in the crossfire of an unnecessary and damaging tendering battle that leaves jobs, conditions and pensions hanging by a thread. That is simply intolerable.

“As a result of the failure to give staff the most basic assurances we are now using the massive mandate secured in the ballot and confirming a programme of industrial action.

“RMT wants cast iron assurances and we want them now and we are prepared to engage in meaningful talks around that agenda as we prepare for the first phase of ­industrial action.”

Scottish Transport Minister Derek Mackay insisted this week that the tender process does not amount to privatisation.

He said: “Regardless of the ­ownership status of the successful bidders, the ferry services are not being privatised. What is being tendered is a public service contract to operate lifeline services on behalf of ­Scottish ministers”.

It was the latest ministerial hand wringing over privatisation.

The Scottish Government insist that EU competition rules have forced them into a tender process.

In 2012, SNP ministers kicked the CalMac sale into touch until after the independence referendum by suspending the tendering process. There was a widespread ­expectation that if it had gone ahead, Serco were likely to have been the ­beneficiaries.

(Image: Allan Milligan)

Bids must now be submitted by December 2015, with the winner only announced when next May’s Holyrood elections are over. But the trade unions say the sale is completely unnecessary and is being driven by a privatisation agenda in the Scottish ­Government.

The RMT said ministers have simply dodged asking the European Commission a fundamental ­question of whether a tender competition for lifeline services is necessary in law.

Previous privatisation attempts by the Tory government in the 1990s were abandoned in the face of community protests.

But the SNP administration have pressed ahead with plans to tender the £1billion ferry services as a monopoly market.

Outsourcing giant Serco have been rocked by allegations they mishandled UK Government ­probation contracts.

The company, who had no previous experience as ferry ­operator, took over the much smaller tender for NorthLink ferry services to Orkney and ­Shetland in July 2012.

poll loading Should the Scottish government rethink their plans to privatise tthe ferry crossings? 0+ VOTES SO FAR YES NO

Passengers, trade unions and communities have complained that Serco raised fares, cut services and reduced crew levels to squeeze profits from passengers.

The Scottish Government recently awarded Serco the Scotrail sleeper services with a £60million bonus for rolling stock.

The unions believe it is likely that Serco will be awarded the CalMac routes unless there is a campaign to stop it.

RMT members have voted by over 90 per cent for action.

The RMT said they had no choice but to fight to defend jobs, conditions and pensions after the union warned that the Clyde and Hebrides service is being set up for takeover.

CalMac employees voted for action to defend their pension scheme rather than accept terms which would require them to work longer and pay more for less ­security.

Crews think the fight over pensions is the last part of the jigsaw in shaping up the company for private tender.

(Image: PA)

Former Labour minister Brian Wilson: Weasel words as SNP redefine privatisation

Caledonian MacBrayne face the biggest threat in their 60-year existence.

Under the Thatcher and Major governments, it was possible to defeat ­privatisation through force of argument and strength of opinion in ­communities dependent on CalMac.

But the SNP administration is more insidious. By creating “competition” with dice loaded against CalMac, they are marginalising the voices of those who see privatisation as a disaster for communities.

Until recently, Serco were banned from bidding for UK Government contracts after being acccused of overcharging for running a detention centre in England.

Yet they remain the Scottish Government’s privateers of choice.

Former transport minister Keith Brown crowed about savings on the Northern Isles contract where CalMac were kicked out to make way for Serco.

Brown stated: “We are aiming for a similarly competitive ­exercise – and similar financial benefits – from the Clyde and Hebridean contract”.

It transpired that CalMac were the lowest bidders for the Northern Isles contract but their tender was sent back, unopened, on a technicality.

Another company who bid are pursuing legal action against the Scottish Government.

This is not something forced on ministers but seized on to make savings on public services through privatisation, even if they don’t like the word.

Brown’s successor, Derek MacKay, repeated the weasel words: “The ferry services are not being privatised. What is being tendered is a public service contract to operate ­lifeline services on behalf of Scottish ministers.”

That is a startling redefinition of privatisation. By the same token, neither railways nor Royal Mail have been privatised because they are still governed by terms set by ­government.

Is that really what the SNP believes?

The pensions dispute is part and parcel of the privatisation agenda. Current CalMac pension provision would cost £60million more over the life of the contract than what Serco is likely to put in its bid.

The Scottish Government could make it a condition that the winner must accept the existing terms and conditions, including pensions.

Whether they are prepared to do so is a litmus test of the outcome they are seeking.

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