HUNDREDS of engineers at Abellio Scotrail have voted to take industrial action after pay talks collapsed, Unite confirmed today. 

Nearly four out of five of the union’s members who maintain and fix ScotRail trains have backed strikes, which are likely to start in mid-September. 

Unite said that the result of the ballot, which saw a 68.4 per cent turnout, was “inevitable” given the company’s behaviour, adding that the vote signalled a “final opportunity” for resolution.

Negotiations on pay, working conditions and redundancies broke down acrimoniously last month, with the company maintaining that there is no extra money because of Covid-19-related pressures.

Other union demands, including flexibility on holidays, compulsory redundancies and the reinstatement of the rest-day working agreement, have also been rejected.

Unite industrial officer Pat McIlvogue said: “The mandate Unite has received from its members at Abellio Scotrail is an indictment of the company’s behaviour and attitude towards its workers.

“Unite’s members have had their terms and conditions cut, while Abellio also refuse to offer a decent pay rise. The ballot result is the inevitable outcome when workers are treated with no respect.”

The vote for industrial action comes amid a host of strikes across Scotland’s railways by the RMT union. 

ScotRail has cancelled many weekend services after six months of consecutive Sunday walkouts by conductors as part of another long-running pay dispute.

The franchise is to be nationalised in March 2022 and run by the government as an “operator of last resort.”

A ScotRail spokesman described the Unite ballot outcome as “extremely disappointing,” claiming that the strike would be “highly damaging” and “wrong” for disrupting train services.