Tube users to suffer strike action

London Underground drivers have voted heavily in favour of strikes in a dispute over pay, raising the prospect of travel chaos for millions of Tube users.

Members of the Rail Maritime and Transport union backed industrial action by almost 9-1, it was announced today. The vote was 460 in favour of strikes, with 64 against in a 50% turnout. RMT leaders will meet tomorrow and are expected to name strike dates.

The Aslef union is expected to reveal a similar vote among its members tomorrow, leading to the prospect of strikes from early next month.

Inevitably, the Aslef union ballots will also back industrial action meaning a repeat of the seizure which hit the capital a year ago when a different dispute halted the network on two occasions.

The ballots were ordered by the RMT, largest of the rail unions which instigated the strikes on mainline South West Trains, and the train drivers' union Aslef.

What the strike is about

Again it is over pay parity. The difference this time is that the drivers are arguing among themselves rather than with other grades, who are demanding the same as the higherpaid drivers. Tube passenger-train drivers earn £29,000 - some £4,000 less than the rate for driving engineering trains whose drivers work mostly at night. The unions say the drivers do the same work and therefore should receive the same rates of pay. LU says that is ridiculous and the two jobs are very different.

LU says the unions are claiming 5.7 per cent for the passenger drivers. This is on top of the flat four per cent paid to all staff - including drivers - last year as part of the annual pay settlement. LU says it had no intention then of paying the drivers a total of 9.7 per cent "and has no intention now". The row has been simmering for years and flared up late last summer when - again - ballots overwhelmingly backed the call for strike action.

The strikes were called off the evening before they were due to begin when both unions and management announced they had reached a deal.

Within hours, however, as revealed by the Evening Standard the day after the so-called deal was brokered, it was in tatters. The unions said at the time that LU had agreed to pay the extra money in stages. LU maintains it said no such thing. It says all it agreed to do was review whether there were any "anomalies" in drivers' pay rates.

Since then there has been a suggestion - LU says it is not even a formal offer - of an extra 1.7 per cent "no-strings" to be paid from April, and another 1.7 per cent, this time with strings and tied into productivity agreements, from October. This has been rejected.

Why this strike will halt all the trains

What is different about this dispute is that the two main unions, previously bitter rivals, have joined forces. The Tube has 3,000 drivers, with Aslef controlling two-thirds and the RMT the remainder. Virtually all drivers belong to one or other of the unions, and those who don't will, in the main, be too frightened to turn up for work and cross picket lines on strike days. Memories are long and any strikebreaker won't have an easy time even when the dispute is over. The unions will combine the strikes to take place on the same day.

Who is leading the strikes?

Both the rail unions are well voiced in using their industrial muscle to force through improvements to pay and working conditions for their members - regardless of the penalty paid by commuters. Bob Crow, the newly elected hard-Left leader of the RMT, has been associated with 30 strikes in 10 years of office. He is a close friend of Mick Rix, , the Aslef leader.

Mr Rix is a former member of Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party. He has joined the Labour Party but retains his hard-Left views. Aslef has an important weapon - its fiercely loyal driver members cannot, for safety reasons, be replaced by other members of staff if they go on strike. The warning from both unions is "no deal, no trains".

What are the prospects of a settlement?

Difficult to say at this stage. Talks are continuing, but they have been deadlocked on the issues. There is no reason to believe that the situation will change in the near future. LU negotiators are no doubt waiting to gauge the strength of feeling from the drivers when the votes are announced before deciding their next move. At the moment there is a very real prospect the stoppages will take place.

What will be the effect on London?

In short, chaos. Without the Tube the roads will be blocked, which will also stop the buses from moving freely. Most people will find that the best way to reach their offices and workplaces when arriving by mainline rail will be to walk. Mr Crow said that during past strikes he has also walked from his east London home to his Euston office - an hour-and-a-half each way - to show his solidarity.

Maurice Fitzpatrick of Tenon, the professional services organisation, calculates that a single 24-hour stoppage of the Tube will cost London businesses £45 million in lost output. The City Corporation puts the overall figure higher, at up to £100 million.