Series of strike action looms in Perth and Kinross in the run up to Christmas and New Year

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A series of strike action will impact Perth and Kinross over the Christmas and New Year period if pay and working condition disputes are not resolved.

Members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) are taking further industrial action against Network Rail, resulting in ScotRail services being impacted and cancelled.Strikes are planned from 6pm on Christmas Eve through to 5.59am on December 27 with further walkouts planned for December 13, 14, 16 and 17 and January 3, 4, 6 and 7.Network Rail signallers and maintenance staff, who are in safety-critical roles, will be the ones on strike.ScotRail is currently “working through” its timetable plans for the days that the strikes have been arranged.Long-running disputes over low pay and working conditions have meant that rail strikes have been frequent this year.The RMT has urged members to reject Network Rail’s latest pay offer of four per cent, in an electronic ballot that will close at noon on Monday, December 12.A Network Rail statement reads: “Due to industrial action, there will be significantly reduced train services across the railway from Tuesday, December 13 until Sunday, January 8.“Trains will be busier and likely to start later and finish earlier, and there will be no services at all in some places.”RMT union members at ScotRail last month accepted an increased pay offer of 7.5 per cent and upwards, averting strikes in the run up to Christmas.Parcel and letter deliveries will be severely affected in the run up to Christmas as local Royal Mail staff continued their series of planned strikes today as part of a long-running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.Communication Workers Union (CWU) members who collect, sort and deliver parcels