Keep CalMac Public

That the Parliament pays tribute to ferry workers at the public sector company, Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac), and their vital role in maintaining lifeline ferry services to Scotland's western island communities; notes that the next contract for Clyde and Hebrides ferry services (CHFS) is currently out to tender and may be privatised as Serco is bidding against CalMac to take over these lifeline public services; recalls the argument made to MSPs in a briefing paper from February 2015 from the STUC and the CalMac unions, RMT, TSSA, Nautilus and Unite, that the Scottish Government could have pursued legal arguments with the European Commission to exempt lifeline Scottish ferry services from regulations requiring regular tendering of public sector contracts, a process which is disruptive, expensive and biased toward private sector bidders; believes that the Scottish Government should exercise its power to stop the current CHFS tender process in order to pursue an exemption for Scottish ferry services, and further believes in supporting and promoting publicly owned and operated Scottish ferry services across Scotland.