Bad news, commuters: RMT is balloting London Underground members over a new strike

Bad news fellow commuters.

 

Tube workers are voting on strike action over a pay deal that union RMT has branded “an insult to the hardworking men and women who deliver a world class service”.

 

All grades are being called to vote on both strike action and action short of a strike, both over the pay dispute and a demand for the working week to be reduced, as well as “our belief that Night Tube should be properly staffed and properly rewarded”. 

 

The Finsbury Park branch of the London RMT said the pay rise deal – 0.75 per cent increase as of 1 April 2015 and an RPI increase in 2016 – was “completely inadequate”. 

 

It argued that two lump sum payments totalling £250 for drivers and track and signal staff as the Tube moves towards a 24-hour operation was not enough. 

 

“If the night tube is to work, the staff have to be properly rewarded for the extra antisocial hours and the disruption to their work/life balance,” the branch said. 

 

“London Underground's Fit for the Future (FfF) programme is an appalling attack on the working conditions of London Underground station staff and will lead to a system that is unsafe for customers and staff.”