RMT's 2,500 members at failed privateer Metronet will strike for 48 hours from 10:30am on Monday April 28 after failing to win unequivocal written guarantees on outsourcing, pensions and travel facilities.

The union has been seeking guarantees that when Metronet contracts are transferred to TfL, none of its 2,500 Metronet members will be transferred to other employers, and that all will be allowed to join the TfL pension scheme and receive the same travel facilities as other TfL employees.

Members voted by a margin of more than four to one to strike.

"Despite weeks of detailed talks and positive discussions with the mayor we have still not won the unequivocal written guarantees we are seeking to protect our members' interests," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"What we have received has been hedged, qualified and ambiguous, and the RMT executive was left with no choice but to set strike dates.

"Even at this stage the solution to this dispute remains a simple letter away, but we have been adamant throughout this whole sorry affair that our members will not be made to pay for the collapse of the PPP and the shameful behaviour of Metronet's shareholders.

"The shareholders who walked away from Metronet's corpse are being rewarded with fat PFI contracts, yet the people who have stuck with the job of improving the Tube are supposed to accept uncertainty over their jobs, pensions and conditions. That is not on.

"We have already made it clear that the collapse of Metronet should not be used as a Trojan horse for a two-tier workforce," Bob Crow said.

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London faces Tube strike on eve of mayoral vote

AFP: 18-04-08

LONDON (AFP) — A transport union is set to unleash travel chaos on London on the eve of the city's May 1 mayoral elections with a two-day strike on the Underground train network.

Some 2,500 workers are to stage a 48-hour strike from April 28, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) said, in a spat linked to the collapse of maintenance firm Metronet.

The planned industrial action would likely cripple Underground services in the British capital and come as the campaigns for the London Assembly and mayoral elections hit their peak.

Maintenance staff voted by four to one for strike action.

"Despite weeks of detailed talks and positive discussions with the mayor, we have still not won an unequivocal, written guarantee we are seeking to protect our members' interests," said RMT general secretary Bob Crow.

The strike was called after the union said it failed to receive written guarantees on outsourcing, pensions and travel facilities of 2,500 workers formerly employed by Metronet.

The RMT's three-day strike in September nearly paralysed the network and left millions of commuters facing a gruelling ordeal simply to get to work.

In the mayoral vote, incumbent Ken Livingstone, from the Labour Party, is facing a strong challenge from Conservative candidate Boris Johnson, with polls either putting Johnson ahead or the pair neck and neck.

London's burdened transport network has been one of the main battlegrounds in the campaign.

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Ken Livingstone ‘bribed Tube staff to call off strike before poll’

The Times: April 21, 2008
Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent

Boris Johnson accused Ken Livingstone last night of using millions of pounds of public money to bribe Tube maintenance staff into calling off a 48-hour strike that would have paralysed all lines just before the mayoral election on May 1.

More than 2,500 staff employed by Metronet, which collapsed last year, will receive free annual season tickets worth almost £1,800 each for themselves and their partners in a deal approved by Mr Livingstone.

The deal, which also includes the right to join Transport for London’s generous pension scheme, will be funded by passengers and London council tax payers.

The strike would have disrupted the journeys of the three million daily Tube passengers and been highly embarrassing for Mr Livingstone.

Mr Johnson said: “This is an election bribe to keep the unions sweet a fortnight before the election.” The Conservative mayoral candidate called on Mr Livingstone to explain his involvement in the discussions on Friday with the Rail, Maritime and Transport union.

He added: “Did Mr Livingstone order his transport adviser to stop the strikes no matter what the cost? If so, this will be yet another breach of the election rules.”

A spokesman for Mr Livingstone said: “The mayor remains responsible for the government of London until the election. He, therefore, is in constant contact with TfL, which he chairs, and was naturally kept fully informed of every stage of negotiations with the RMT.”

Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT, said late on Friday that he would recommend to his executive that the strike be called off.