London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

New 4.2% pay offer for ScotRail drivers

New 4.2% pay offer for ScotRail drivers

ScotRail train drivers have been offered a 4.2% pay rise and improved conditions, according to their union.

It follows a day of negotiations between the rail company and Aslef.

The union's Scottish organiser, Kevin Lindsay, said the improved pay offer would be put to members for their consideration.

ScotRail, which brought in a reduced timetable this week to cope with driver shortages, said the new pay offer was final and could not be improved.

The reduced timetable saw almost 700 fewer train services a day on the Scottish network, with many later services cancelled.

The train drivers have been in dispute over a 2.2% pay offer, which Aslef said was not acceptable in times of soaring inflation.

Mr Lindsay said: "Aslef entered these talks in good faith. We have negotiated a pay offer of 4.2%, a three-year no compulsory redundancy deal and a number of other improvements.

"These will now be put to our members for their consideration."

A verbal referendum will take place at a meeting later on Thursday but the full consultation is likely to last up to four weeks and will be followed by a formal vote.

Mr Lindsay told BBC Scotland it was up to train drivers to decide whether to return to working overtime in the meantime.

"The emergency timetable imposed by ScotRail cut too far, too deep, and in my opinion was not necessary," he said.

"They should have come round the table and spoken to us a lot sooner and encouraged the drivers to work. However, they didn't and now they have faced the consequences of it."


Separate deal


The RMT union, which represents other railway workers, has balloted members over strike action but will hold separate negotiations with ScotRail on Tuesday.

A typical ScotRail driver salary is more than £50,000.

Drivers were initially offered a 2.2% pay rise and the opportunity to participate in a revenue share arrangement, which the Scottish government said would take the total package to 5%.


The new pay offer from ScotRail is a substantial improvement on the previous offer and a surprise.

Unions said they had gone into today's talks in hope rather than expectation.

A 4.2% rise is still well below inflation but there are various sweeteners attached.

But there is a potential problem.

ScotRail was brought back into public ownership in April. The company had argued that it was now bound by public sector pay policy.

Other public sector unions will be looking at the 4.2% rise offered by ScotRail.

How will employees such as teachers and council workers feel if their current 2% pay offer is not improved?

ScotRail began cancelling trains earlier this month amid the pay dispute, after many drivers chose not to work overtime or on rest days.

Due to delays in training new staff during the pandemic, it relied on drivers working extra hours in order to run normal services.

ScotRail's original Summer 2022 timetable had about 2,150 weekday services. This has now been reduced to 1,456 in the temporary timetable. The changes also mean the last train on many routes departs before 20:00.

ScotRail's service delivery director David Simpson told BBC Scotland there had been a "very constructive meeting with Aslef today".

"We've been able to improve the offer we'd made previously in a way that reflects the concerns which were expressed to us on cost of living," he said.

"It also gives the ability for the industry in Scotland to respond more positively to changes in demand as we recover from the pandemic."

"It's a good offer," Mr Simpson added.


Return of some services


ScotRail returned to public ownership on 1 April and is run by a company owned by the Scottish government.

Earlier, transport minister Jenny Gilruth said she hoped there would be an announcement of the return of some services on Thursday or Friday.

"The other action I have taken is to ask ScotRail to look at reintroducing a number of services," she said in response to a question in the Scottish Parliament from Tory MSP Graham Simpson.

"There will be more information forthcoming on that from ScotRail later today, I hope, or on Friday."

More train services could be put in place in time for Wednesday's World Cup play-off between Scotland and Ukraine at Hampden stadium in Glasgow.

At First Minister's Questions, Deputy First Minster John Swinney, standing in for Nicola Sturgeon who has Covid, said he was very confident that ScotRail would have additional services in place for the match.

He also confirmed negotiations were under way to resolve the ScotRail dispute.

Separately, the railway network is also facing the threat of strike action by RMT members at Network Rail from the middle of June.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
×