Tube maintenance workers to strike

Tube maintenance workers are to stage a three-day strike next week in a dispute over plans to transfer staff to parent companies.

The Rail Maritime Transport union (RMT) said its 2000 members employed by maintenance consortium Metronet would walk out from 6pm on Sunday, April 15.

In 2005, Metronet announced its intention to transfer more than 1,000 staff to Bombardier, one of the companies in the consortium, but it has since reduced that number to 250 “managerial and technical specialists”.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "Forcing our members to transfer is about maximising profits and dividing and undermining our members' organisation, pay and conditions. It also means forcing even more fragmentation on a network that has already seen its safety culture undermined by the disastrous public private partnership."

Metronet called on RMT to cancel its industrial action and resume talks. Mark Cooper, senior vice president of Metronet, said: “In recent weeks we have worked hard to reach an agreement with the unions. We remain available for talks at any time. The planned strike action will lead to disruption for the three million people who use the Tube every day. It is unnecessary and unwarranted.”

The RMT also announced that the workers would start an indefinite overtime ban from 22 April.