FERRY passengers have breathed a sigh of relief after proposed strike action by Caledonian MacBrayne staff was scrapped.

Today’s planned walkout by members of the RMT Union will not take place, with the u-turn coming after an announcement by the Scottish Government.

CalMac workers were due to strike over fears about pay and conditions linked to the government’s move to put ferry contracts out to tender.

There are concerns it could mean routes currently run by the state-owned operator would fall into the hands of a private company.

But the government announced late on Wednesday that the tender process would be put on hold.

The aborted one-day walkout would have affected CalMac’s Wemyss Bay to Rothesay sailings and the Gourock to Dunoon town centres crossing, which is run by CalMac offshoot Argyll Ferries.

The operators say they have been working ‘flat out’ to normalise the timetables.

Drew Collier, CalMac’s operations director, said: “We welcome the RMT’s decision to call off today’s strike, however there are still issues they wish to be addressed and talks to seek a permanent resolution will continue.

“In the meantime, we are pulling out all the stops to try to get back to our published timetables as quickly as possible.

“We would like to thank all our customers for their patience during this period of uncertainty and hope they can understand the difficult logistical task this last minute call off is presenting us with.” The announcement has come as a relief to passengers and Gourock councillor Chris McEleny, who also chairs the Clyde Ferry Users Group.

Mr McEleny said: “I welcome that the RMT has suspended its proposed industrial action.

“This is good news for staff at CalMac, tourists who will be using ferries at this time of year and the communities that get an economic benefit from them.

“The Scottish Government have listened to concerns and have decided to delay the draft invitation to tender until 31 July.

“The suspension will allow detailed discussions with all parties to further explore the RMT’s position around no compulsory redundancies, staffing levels, protection of terms and conditions and pensions.

“Hopefully now with more time to talk an amicable solution can be reached that protects the jobs of staff, their terms and conditions and also the service that so many rely on.” But CalMac bosses have warned that there could still be some disruption to services and passengers as a result of alternative arrangements which were made to deal with strike action.

With extra sailings laid on, chiefs say some vessels may be out of position for their normal service.

Mr Collier said: “If we are able to we will give customers who have been moved a choice, but due to capacity issues this may not be possible.

“The situation in which we find ourselves means there will still be some unavoidable disruption for travellers for which we apologise.”