In the three unions' ballots, which closed today, Metronet workers voted by a total of 1,369 to 70 to strike (full figures below)

The strike votes were sparked by the failure of the bankrupt company's administrators to provide guarantees that there will be no job losses or forced transfers as a result of the company's financial collapse.

RMT and TSSA members also voted to strike over the failure to guarantee that there would be no cuts in pension entitlements.

"Our members have said with a single, united voice that they are not prepared to be made to pay for the failure of the PPP with their jobs, conditions or pensions," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"The work our members do is crucial not only to the day-to-day operation of the Tube but to the urgent upgrades that are slipping further behind schedule, and any further fragmentation of the workforce is out of the question.

"If we are to have the world-class Tube that London needs in time for the Olympics the only sensible answer is to bring the work back into the public sector," Bob Crow said.

"Metronet shareholders may be able to walk away from this PPP fiasco but it is our members who are being asked to pick up the bill with lost jobs, transfers and pension cutbacks," said TSSA general secretary Gerry Doherty.

"They have sent a clear message today to the Administrator and the Mayor that they will not stand for it. The long-term solution must be to bring this work back in-house to the public sector," Gerry Doherty said.

"This 'yes' vote gives Unite the mandate to take strike action against Metronet's shameful plan to cut hundreds of jobs and outsource a further one thousand," said Unite assistant general secretary Jennie Bremner.

"These proposals come from the same management that were responsible for running Metronet into the ground. Unite is calling on the administratorto take firm action to put the Tube back on track and to cease operating the same policies that led to Metronet being taken into administration in the first place.

"We are available to meet with the company to thrash out a deal that will avoid industrial action. However this vote demonstrates our members' willingness to take the company on to protect jobs and the future of the Tube," Jennie Bremner said.

ends

Notes to editors: In the RMT ballot, there were 1,123 (98.3 per cent) votes to strike, with 20 votes (1.7 per cent) against, on a turnout of 51 per cent.

In the TSSA ballot, there were 127 votes for strike action (77 per cent) and 38 votes (23 per cent) against, on a 48 per cent turnout.

In the Unite ballot there were 119 votes (90 per cent) for strike action and 12 votes against (ten per cent)

See also:

Metronet vote threatens Tube 'for weeks'

Times Online: August 20, 2007
Steve Hawkes

Unions give administrator running Metronet a deadline to meet their demands after 95 per cent of members back a walkout

Nearly 1,400 London Underground workers today voted for strike action in a move that threatens to disrupt services on the Tube for weeks.

Union leaders today revealed that 95 per cent of their members at Metronet, the consortium that collapsed into administration last month, have backed industrial action.

They warned that unless Metronet’s administrators meet their demands by 6pm Wednesday, they will set the date for a first walkout on Thursday.

They have to give management seven days' notice of a strike date.

The workers include maintenance and repair staff vital to the upkeep of nine London Underground lines, including the Circle, Central and District lines.

The RMT union, the biggest of three trade unions with members at Metronet, wants guarantees that workers jobs, pensions and working conditions will be unaffected by Metronet’s demise.

Metronet was four years into a controversial £17 billion public-private partnership when it was forced to call in the bankers after huge cost overruns.

Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, said: "Our members have said with a single, united voice that they are not prepared to be made to pay for the failure of the PPP with their jobs, conditions or pensions.

"The work our members do is crucial not only to the day-to-day operation of the Tube but to the urgent upgrades that are slipping further behind schedule, and any further fragmentation of the workforce is out of the question."

Gerry Doherty, general secretary of the TSSA (Transport and Salaried Staffs Association), added: "Metronet shareholders may be able to back away from this fiasco but it is our members who are being asked to pick up the bill with lost jobs, transfers and pension cutbacks."

Before the ballot result, a spokesman for Transport for London said that any strike action would be “completely unnecessary”.

He added: “It is particularly unreasonable at a time when administrators are working to ensure the stability of Metronet following the company’s collapse.

“There are agreed channels for discussion on these issues and the unions should use them rather than call for strike action.”

See also:

London Underground Contractor Metronet Faces Strike by Union

Bloomberg: Aug. 20
By Brian Lysaght

U.K. workers voted to take strike action against Metronet Rail, the largest contractor on London's Underground railway, in a dispute over possible job cuts.

Metronet workers who are union members voted 1,369 to 80 to walk off the job, said a group of three unions in a statement today. A strike date hasn't been set.

Metronet, the contractor responsible for upgrading two- thirds of the London Underground, was put under the control of administrators after it ran out of cash last month.

Union leaders will meet with the company on Aug. 22, Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport Union, said today at a news conference in London. If they fail to reach an agreement at that meeting, the unions will go ahead with the strike, Crow said.