THE RMT union has demanded an urgent summit with Scottish Transport Secretary Michael Matheson in a bid to break the deadlock in pay equality disputes with Abellio ScotRail.

As conductors and ticket examiners prepared to take to the picket lines again tomorrow, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch wrote to Mr Matheson urging him to take ownership of disputes that the union says only the Scottish government can resolve.

The union points out that since March 2020 the Scottish government has been responsible for running the ScotRail franchise under Abellio’s emergency measures agreement (EMA), but ministers have made no effort to end the impasse.

Mr Lynch said: “The Scottish government is holding the reins of the ScotRail franchise and only the Scottish government can resolve these disputes.