TUBE UNION RMT confirmed today that tube drivers on the Jubilee Line, working out of the Stratford and Greenwich depots, are to be balloted for industrial action in a dispute over bullying of staff through the misuse of procedures and an appalling decline in the standard of working conditions.

In a letter to London Underground setting out the reasons for the dispute, RMT has highlighted:

• The unfair and disproportionate treatment of Drivers in disciplinaries
• Many facilities on the Jubilee line being in a very poor and in some cases a “disgusting” state
• The removal and threatened removal of some benefits.
• A severe lack of support from managers for their staff.

RMT will be looking to co-ordinate balloting and any subsequent action with fellow drivers’ union ASLEF who are also in dispute on these issues.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:
“RMT will not sit back and allow the wilful misuse of procedures on any part of the tube network as a means of bullying and intimidating our members. That is exactly what is happening at the moment to drivers working out of Greenwich and Stratford on the Jubilee Line and we are demanding that the practice be called to an immediate halt.

Our members are also sick of the gradual decline in working conditions and facilities which have been allowed to degenerate into a disgusting state and which appears to be another petty and vindictive way of sniping at union members on the Jubilee Line. Communication with staff and union reps has also been undermined and support from managers for staff has been systematically stripped away.

RMT will begin immediate preparations for a ballot for industrial action and no one should underestimate the anger amongst Jubilee Line staff at the moment. RMT remains available for talks aimed at resolving this dispute.”