Unite tube workers vote for industrial action

Press release from Unite union

Tube workers at Unite, London's biggest transport union, have voted in favour of industrial action in a ballot which closed today (Monday). On a return of over 40%, Unite members voted to carry out action short of a strike.

Unite, representing 500 workers across London Underground, has been seeking a negotiated settlement to this year’s pay claim since July, when talked were formally closed by the company with a ‘final’ offer. Since then, Unite has made several approaches to the company to re-open talks on the basis of items on its claim which have not been addressed by London Underground. These approaches have been rebuffed.

Unite Regional Officer, John Morgan-Evans, said: “London Underground have chosen, through their failure to negotiate, to put the travelling public’s journey to work at risk of further disruption. This dispute would be relatively easy to resolve if London Underground would agree to sit down with us and talk about our claim.

“This vote shows that our members’ admirable patience has run out. They have decided they do not want to take strike action but want to make their point with other forms of action. We need to see some genuine negotiation and agreement on the pay, terms and conditions issues which our members have identified as important. If we do not see that, we may be taking action before Christmas.”

Steve Hart, Regional Secretary of Unite, added: “London's public transport is facing a serious threat as industrial relations deteriorate on buses and now the underground.

“London Underground and the bus operators must negotiate. I call on the Mayor and Transport for London to press now for serious negotiations to resolve these disputes.”

Shop stewards will be meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) to decide what form action will take and what its timing will be.

ENDS

Note to Editors: Unite’s members work in engineering, electrical, technical, managerial, power control, and white collar areas. In September, Unite members voted 2:1 in a consultative ballot to reject the deal, which is worth 1.5% for 2009-10 and RPI plus 0.5% for 2010-11, and to organise a ballot on action, which concluded today.