ScotRail drivers aren’t being paid enough, says almost half of reader’s poll

By Kieran Beattie

June 8 2022, 5:00 pm

Services are beginning to return to normal as lines reopen following major disruption. Image: PA.

ScotRail train drivers are not being paid enough, according to almost half of the readers who took part in our poll.

Passengers and businesses across Scotland have been dealing with weeks of chaos due to a major reduction in ScotRail services caused by a dispute over pay.

Drivers have backed away from a long-running agreement to work overtime and on rest days, which has resulted in hundreds of daily rail journeys being cut temporarily.

Last week, the executive committee of the trade union Aslef, which represents the drivers, rejected a 4.2% wage increase offer, prolonging the situation.

Scotrail pay dispute — Trade union leaders have rejected a 4.2% pay deal, prolonging a dispute that has seen more than 700 rail services cut. Picture by Danny Lawson/PA Wire

The union’s Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay said Aslef wants to seek a “fair pay offer that we can put to our members”.

However, a Transport Scotland spokeswoman described the pay deal as a “very good offer” for the drivers of ScotRail, which was nationalised earlier this year.

We asked our readers their thoughts on if ScotRail’s train drivers are being paid fairly.

Here are the results of our poll of 472 readers:

In total, 48.5%, or 229 respondents, said they don’t think ScotRail train drivers are being paid enough.

And 32.8%, or 155 people, believed they were being paid a suitable amount.

Just 18.6%, or 88 voters said their salaries are too high.

How much are train drivers paid in Scotland?

Currently, train drivers in Scotland earn on average twice the average Scottish salary, at £53,000 per year.

In April, ScotRail was brought back into public ownership for the first time in 25 years — meaning the government now pays the salaries of ScotRail’s staff, just like they do with others in the public sector like teachers and police officers.

A spokeswoman for Transport Scotland argued that while the government understands “any union’s desire to obtain the best deal possible for their members”, there are the “stark realities of the financial pressures we are facing across government” to contend with.

A ScotRail train at Inverurie Station, on the day the scaled-back timetable came into force. Picture by Kami Thomson/DCT Media

She said: “We all need to work together to make nationalisation a success. Ministers are committed to ensuring that the railway unions are part of that success.

“However, to be part of the vision moving forward, the unions need to agree on a deal that is both fair and affordable, particularly in the context of wider public sector pay policy.”

Here is a comparison of average train driver salaries in Scotland compared to other careers in the public sector.

A typical ScotRail train driver’s salary is more than £50,000 and the company has argued that it is now bound by public sector pay policy which sets parameters for pay increases.

The public sector pay policy for 2021-22 guarantees a basic pay increase of just 1% for public sector workers earning between £40,000 and £80,000.

This is below the 4.2% rise offered by ScotRail – and rejected by the union – earlier this week, and well below inflation which currently sits at 9%.