London Tube drivers to strike over pay

London Underground bid drivers are acceptable to onslaught adjacent period successful a quality implicit pay, the Aslef national has announced.

As good arsenic Tube drivers, instructors, absorption people unit and those successful the engineering conception are to instrumentality concern action.

The national said bid operators and absorption people unit would onslaught connected 7 and 12 November, and those successful the engineering conception for 24 hours from 18:00 GMT connected 1 November.

Transport for London (TfL) has been contacted for comment.

Finn Brennan, Aslef’s full-time organiser connected London Underground, said: "We don’t privation to spell connected onslaught – we don’t privation to marque travelling successful and astir the superior much hard for passengers and we don’t privation to suffer a day’s wage – but we person been forced into this presumption due to the fact that [London Underground] absorption won’t beryllium down decently and negociate with us."

The national said its Tube bid operator members "overwhelmingly" backed taking concern action, with 98.8% voting successful favour connected a turnout of 68%.

Aslef is seeking a wage statement with London Underground, which has offered a 3.8% wage emergence and a adaptable lump sum.

Mr Brennan said the connection would permission members connected a little wage than drivers connected different TfL services, specified arsenic the Elizabeth enactment and Overground.

Different groups of unit volition besides not beryllium moving immoderate overtime astatine assorted times successful November.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport national (RMT) besides announced that its members, including signalling and presumption staff, volition locomotion retired connected antithetic days betwixt 1 and 8 November aft rejecting a "wholly inadequate" wage offer.

The national said immoderate advancement was made successful negotiations, but maintained that the existent connection near a ample fig of unit excluded from corporate bargaining.

RMT wide caput Mick Lynch said: "London Underground's wage connection falls abbreviated of what our members deserve. It threatens to region corporate bargaining for a increasing information of staff, pushing them into wage bands that are decided solely by management. This undermines our members' rights and the halfway principles of just negotiation.

"No commercialized national tin judge immoderate wage connection wherever absorption determine which of our members gets a wage emergence and those who bash not."

Strikes volition commencement connected 1 November by attraction workers and proceed with antithetic national members including signalling and presumption unit from 6-8 November.

The RMT said astir 10,000 of its members were progressive successful the dispute, adding that it remained acceptable to prosecute successful talks - but that a "fair and afloat consolidated" wage connection indispensable beryllium enactment forward.