Union ballots workers for new strike

Tube commuters today faced the prospect of more 24-hour strikes in a new row over safety on the Underground.

The RMT, largest of the Tube unions, whose members include train drivers, station staff and signal workers, will today order a strike ballot claiming London Underground is intent on pressing ahead with the part-privatisation of the network and ignoring safety concerns.

It presents new Transport Secretary Alistair Darling with the real threat of massive travel chaos across the capital. Union leaders predict the ballot, the result of which is due at the end of the month, will back overwhelmingly the call for industrial action - likely to be a series of 24-hour stoppages.

LU condemned the union, saying the dispute is " politically inspired" and aimed at preventing the public-private partnership (PPP) from going ahead. It is expected that contracts between LU and the private sector will be signed later this month or early next. Under PPP, large sections of the network will be hived off to the private sector on 30-year leases..

Mayor Ken Livingstone and Bob Kiley, the transport commissioner, side with the unions in claiming the PPP is unsafe. The union cannot order a strike ballot in protest against the PPP itself because that would constitute illegal action against government policy.

Bob Crow, the RMT leader and a former Tube track worker, said today: "LU is proceeding with the implementation of PPP despite the fact that safety issues have not been fully discussed; nor have they been agreed with the Health and Safety Executive."

Mike Strzelecki LU's director of safety, said: "This appears to be a politically inspired action raised by those whose agenda is opposed to securing the sustained investment in the Tube that PPP will undoubtedly deliver."