London Underground maintenance staff have voted in favour of strikes in a dispute over jobs, pay and working conditions.
The Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union’s ballot of Tube Lines employees has returned a vote for industrial action by a margin of nine to one.
Transport for London is now taking over maintenance and upgrade work carried out by Tube Lines, and the union has warned the threat to jobs, conditions and pay remains a concern for the staff, the Guardian has reported.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “Once again, RMT members have shown their determination to stand up and be counted when it comes to defending jobs, pay and working conditions.
“We have made it perfectly clear to Transport for London that we do not expect our members to take the hit for the final collapse of the disastrous Tube privatisation experiment.
“We have sought concrete assurances that staff will not be expected to pay off the Tube Line’s exit costs in job losses, attacks on safe working conditions and an undermining of pay rates. Now that we have this massive mandate for action, it’s essential those assurances are forthcoming as a matter of urgency.”
The union will meet in a few days to decide its next move.
