London at Risk of More Tube Strikes in Row Over Pensions

Workers on the London Underground will be balloted over whether to hold more strikes as soon as March in the latest sign of industrial strife in Britain.

(Bloomberg) — Workers on the London Underground will be balloted over whether to hold more strikes as soon as March in the latest sign of industrial strife in Britain.

The union Aslef said Monday it would ballot its members from Jan. 18 to Feb. 15 as part of a dispute over working conditions and pensions. If Tube workers decide to strike, Aslef could announce specific dates from a fortnight later.

Aslef said it would provide official notice of its plans this week. Another labor group, the RMT, said in December that its members had voted for more walkouts on the Underground. 

The UK started the new year with five consecutive days of strikes on the train network, which is separate to the Tube, with workers continuing months-long protests concerning pay and in some cases opposition to proposed reforms. Most Tube services still ran. The last Tube strike was in November.

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Finn Brennan, Aslef’s district organizer, blamed the government’s level of funding for network operator Transport for London and ministers’ “insistence that its pension scheme must be changed to save £100 million ($121 million) per year.”

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