Tube union RMT is to ballot members working at Tube Lines’ Northfields Depot in a dispute over the “wholesale abuse” of agreements and procedures.
The former PPP contractor was bought by Transport for London in 2010 but its operations have continued to be managed separately from London Underground.
The RMT claims managers have failed to honour agreements covering sickness and attendance, denied staff the right to access grievance procedures and withheld sick pay.
Members will be balloted for both strike action and action short of a strike later this week.
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said: “There has been a complete breakdown of industrial relations at the Tube Lines Northfields depot due to a cavalier disregard of agreements and procedures by a management who seem to believe they can do what they like, when they like.
“As a result we have been pushed into a dispute and RMT members have made it clear that they are not going to stand by while hard-won agreements are ripped up, and individuals are picked off, in a poisonous atmosphere of bullying and harassment.
“The management side should take the opportunity right now to end these abuses and to sit down with the union to put the industrial relations framework back on a meaningful footing.”
Nigel Holness, LU’s Operations Director for the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines, said: “We’re disappointed that the RMT leadership has chosen not to engage with the agreed resolution process we have in place for these issues, and I would urge them sit down and discuss their issues with us before threatening industrial action.”
