TRADE unionists at the STUC congress resolved today to fight for continued public ownership of Scotland’s ferry services and a people’s CalMac.

Maritime union RMT said that there was a “positive case” for CalMac ferries, amid fears that some are using the firm’s crisis as a platform to build the case for unbundling.

Scrapping the bundling of ferry routes would mean CalMac — full name Caledonian MacBrayne — losing the ability to cross-subsidise essential services from more profit-making routes such as Ardrossan to Brodick, ultimately leading to fragmentation, privatisation and a deterioration in services, the union argued.