By Peter Burton
RMT signallers working for Network Rail in Scotland were due to hold two 48-hour strikes this month over the company's continued failure to implement a 35-hour week agreement signed last summer. The union looks like it has now come to an agreement with the company, and the strikes have been called off.
A previous 48 hour strike ended on Monday 12 March.
If the deal is, as looks probable, a victory, the determination of the union, will have paid off.
The first RMT strike was solid and provoked stormy arguments in the Scottish Parliament between the Nationalists and Labour First Minister Jack McConnell ahead of the 3 May elections.
Central to the dispute has been the failure of Network Rail to train sufficient signal workers to compensate for the one hour reduction in the working week from 36 to 35 hour week.
Signal workers also want to keep the 3x12 hour shift patterns and obtain an additional day off every eight weeks, rather than work management rosters of five days on and two days off.
