Unite tube workers vote for industrial action
23 November 2009
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
For further information contact John Morgan-Evans on 07958
514702 or Ashraf Choudhury in the Unite Press Office on 020 7420
8914 or 07980 224761.
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.
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