Tube strike: maintenance workers vote for three-day walkout

Staff on Piccadilly, Northern and Jubilee lines to strike next week in dispute over pensions and benefitsWorkers who maintain and upgrade Tube lines on London Underground are to strike for 72 hours next week in a dispute over pensions and benefits.The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), which represents around 1,000 staff on the Tube Lines contracts, said its members will walk out at 4pm on Tuesday until the same time on Friday.The staff work on the Piccadilly, Northern and Jubilee lines and provide a number of services, including emergency repairs, across the entire network.The dispute is over union demands for all Tube Lines staff to be allowed to join the Transport for London (TfL) pension scheme and receive the same travel concessions as those who work for London Underground.RMT officials said the strike would have a widespread impact on tube services across the network.Transport for London said there were plans to ensure LU can operate scheduled services on all three lines. They indicated they were also working to ensure plans were in place to respond to any incidents, such as track, train or signal failures, and to minimise any disruption.The announcement follows a 4-1 vote in favour of industrial action in a ballot of union members.The RMT general secretary, Bob Crow, said: "RMT members have delivered a massive mandate for action following a straightforward demand for parity with other Tube staff."This dispute is about justice and about ensuring that all groups of staff under the umbrella of London Underground receive the same rights and benefits, and our members have no choice but to strike to secure those basic rights."We have gone through all the negotiating channels but Tube Lines has refused to budge and have refused to engage in meaningful talks and that pig-headed approach has raised the temperature on the shop floor and has resulted in this strike action being called."Former Metronet [another London Underground contractor which went into administration in 2007] employees have been allowed back into the Transport for London (TfL) pension fund and now also have the same travel facilities as other LU employees."Tube Lines is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London and there is simply no excuse for refusing to give equal pension and pass rights."The union remains ready to talk, and the strong mandate for this industrial action shows Tube Lines and TfL the depth of anger there is over this blatant lack of fairness and justice."Lee Jones, operations director for Tube Lines, said: "A strike on this issue is completely unnecessary and will not achieve anything. We urge the RMT leadership to end their strike threat and return to talks, as it will only be resolved through constructive discussion."The RMT's ballot showed that less than 44% of its members voted in favour of strike action. Any action would be by maintenance staff, not Tube drivers and station staff. Should a strike go ahead, we have plans in place which will enable London Underground to operate Tube services on all three lines and to minimise any disruption."The planned strike comes just weeks before the London mayoral election.LondonRail transportLondonUnited KingdomTransportguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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