Tube maintenance staff will go on two three-day strikes this September, after unwelcome proposals for redundancies and outsourcing look set to steam ahead.
Members of the Unite union working for failed privateer Metronet will go on strike from 6pm on Monday 3 September until 5:59pm on Thursday 6 September. The second stoppage will occur between 6pm on Monday 10 September and 5:59pm on Thursday 13 September.
Industrial action from Metronet staff, voted for overwhelmingly by members of Unite, the RMT and the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association, will have a massive cumulative impact on Tube services, as the firm operates nine of the 12 London Underground lines.
Yet the administrator is still set to slash jobs and outsource up to a thousand more to rail transit company Bombardier.
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Unite assistant general secretary Jennie Bremner said: “The administrator seems to be intent on continuing Metronet’s failed policies, which led to the company being taking into administration in the first place. We will now be taking strike action against these job cuts and forced transfers. The proposals from Metronet’s administrator is not in the interests of staff, nor are they in the interests of the travelling public.”
The Metronet public-private partnership was designed to boost private investment in the London Underground, but the company failed to deliver on its renewal programme, and collapsed after claiming it had £2bn of extra costs.
