London Underground pay strikes this weekend

Workers at the Tube Lines company on London Underground will strike this weekend, despite London mayor Boris Johnson bringing the firm back in-house.

Members of the Aslef train drivers’ union at the company are to strike for 48 hours from 6am on Saturday over pay.

RMT union members are voting on action against attacks on jobs and conditions.

Seventy five out of 76 Aslef members at Tube Lines voted for strikes. The workers drive the engineering trains on the underground and their action will severely impact upon weekend works.

Tube Lines does the maintenance work on the Jubilee, Piccadilly and Northern lines. Bringing it back in-house should mark the end of the disastrous Public‑Private Partnership scheme on the tube.

But the Amey company, which was part of Tube Lines, is to manage maintenance.

“It’s business as usual,” said Paul Jackson, the secretary of the RMT London Underground engineering branch. “It seems to be privatisation by another method.

“The threat to workers remains and so the RMT will continue with its dispute.”

The RMT and Aslef should co-ordinate future action. The RMT should also quickly ballot its other members over hundreds of job cuts.