Strike ballot for northern railworkers
More than 2,000 rail workers are to be balloted for strike action over a ``comprehensive breakdown" in industrial relations.
Members of the Rail Maritime and Transport union at Northern Rail, which provides local services in the North East, will vote in the next few weeks on whether to launch a campaign of industrial action.
The union claimed its reps had been victimised, new working conditions imposed, disciplinary procedures breached and changes made to payments to staff assaulted on duty.
General secretary Bob Crow said: ``Industrial relations at Northern have plummeted to a new low, and our members are telling us that the company’s aggression must be challenged.
``It is only a year since Northern told us it was withdrawing its heartless attempt to dock the pay of staff who had to take time off work after being assaulted, but it has become clear that local managers have been given the nod to continue doing it.
``In the last three months the company has fired two union reps for alleged breaches of conditions that have been imposed without agreement, and cynically manipulated its own disciplinary procedures in the process.
``We have also seen the company fail to produce written assurances we were promised that guards would be in place during trials of new tram-trains on the Penistone-Huddersfield line, and now there are also moves to undermine promotion prospects for our members."
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