TRANSPORT union RMT launched a scathing attack on the Scottish National Party Trade Union Group yesterday following its failure to support CalMac ferry workers’ strike action over threats to their jobs.

The CalMac workers began their strike today over Holyrood plans to sell the vital service to a private bidder.

The ferries are a lifeline link between the Scottish mainland and more than 20 Hebridean islands.

The SNP trade union group issued a statement blaming the privatisation on European Union directives demanding that the public services of member states be privatised.

Today’s 24-hour strike coincided with the final day of the RMT’s annual conference, where general secretary Mick Cash said: “This statement from a group claiming to represent trade unionists makes not a single mention of support for fellow trade unionists battling to defend jobs and services.

“Instead it hides behind a barrage of EU anti-worker legislation that has no relevance to this dispute and which could be challenged anyway with a united campaign.”

He appealed to “rank-and-file SNP members and supporters to reject this defeatist line and stand by a workforce fighting to defend jobs, conditions, safety and lifeline ferry services against this attack.”

The Scottish parliamentary motion calls for CalMac to be kept in public ownership as the best way of “serving the interests of islanders, tourism and the Scottish economy.”