Jubilee Line Tube staff to stage 24-hour strikes
22nd January 2010
Maintenance workers on a London Underground line are to stage a series of 24-hour strikes in a row over pay. Members of the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union employed by Alstom on the Jubilee line are taking the action.
They will walk out from 0729 GMT on 27 January and from 1929 GMT each Sunday evening from 31 January.
Alstom said it hoped a new deal presented to the union will prevent the strikes.
The union said it was in dispute over a pay gap it claimed had grown to thousands of pounds.
'Poor relations'
It claimed staff based in Stratford had been paid less than "their brothers and sisters elsewhere on the Underground".
An RMT spokesman said it had received a new proposal from bosses which the union's executive is considering. A decision is expected by Monday.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "We hope that management will now recognise that they cannot go on treating fleet maintenance staff as poor relations and that they will get back round the table and negotiate a fair settlement. "
An Alstom spokeswoman said: "Alstom and RMT have been in discussions about the harmonisation of pay between certain grades of its tube maintenance employees working on Jubilee line and Northern line fleets.
"On Wednesday this week, we received a verbal agreement of this proposal from RMT and we fully expect them to formalise it later. "
Source: BBC