THOUSANDS of commuters face delays today because of a strike by Glasgow Subway staff over pay and holiday rosters.

The industrial action was taking place after last-minute talks between the Transport and General Workers' Union (T&G) and Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT) ended without agreement.

Officials of SPT, which operates the Subway, said the new deal offered staff an immediate 7.9-per cent pay rise, with a further 1.5-per cent once new holiday rosters were introduced.

The dispute, which has led to two one-day strikes already, involves drivers, ticket collectors and safety workers, and began after employees rejected a two-year pay offer and objected to changes in holiday cycles.

Douglas Ferguson, SPT's director of operations, said:

"This offer is significantly more than that available to other employees in local government.

"I am very disappointed that the trade union representatives decided that another strike was required to put this offer to their members.

"This is a very generous but final offer and it can only be paid for through improvements in flexibility and productivity. I encourage staff to carefully consider what is on the table and to accept it. Further strikes will also compromise our ability to fund any offer."

The break-down in talks spells another 24 hours of disruption for the 41,000 commuters who use the Glasgow subway each day.

SPT said it was hoping to run a limited underground shuttle today between the Buchanan Street and Hillhead stations.

Free buses will be available every 10 minutes between Shields Road and St Enoch, and Partick and Govan.

T&G officials said the pay increases and changes to terms and conditions did not meet the needs of its members. Scott Foley, of T&G Scotland, said:

"A large amount of effort has gone into trying to resolve this dispute, and our members themselves have identified further savings based on financial data produced by SPT.

"Talks have, however, become increasingly protracted as a consequence of management's inconsistent figures, which following analysis by our shop stewards have been met with a response that they just don't add up.

"The T&G has worked with the figures given to us by SPT and has identified substantial savings which we believe would be achievable due to the increased productivity and flexibility of the workforce.

"Our members are frustrated and feel they are being asked to agree to a deal in which they are not being properly rewarded for a major departure from existing working practices."

Mr Foley said they were still committed to ending the dispute and will meet again today.

Subway drivers currently earn pounds-16,801 basic salary for a 37-hour week, with roughly pounds-2000 extra earnings including overtime and bonuses.

REPLACEMENT SERVICES A limited train shuttle service is planned between Hillhead and Buchanan Street.

Free buses will run every 10 minutes from 6.30am to 11.30pm between Shields Road and St Enoch stations, and Partick and Govan.

First ScotRail will accept Subway season and multijourney tickets for travel between Queen Street and Partick.

Subway car parks will be free. Season ticket holders will be reimbursed for journeys lost during the strike if they present their ticket at a Subway station after the dispute.

The fare increase, due this month, is suspended while services are disrupted.