RMT may ballot on strike over PPP

The RMT rail union today threatened Tube strikes over the Government's publicprivate partnership (PPP) of the Underground.

Union leaders say they will ballot their 8,000 members working on the Tube unless they receive guarantees that there will be no compulsory redundancies after PPP is phased in.

Bob Crow, the union general secretary, said London Underground had "ditched" an agreement signed nine months ago to guarantee job security.

LU today denied it had gone back on last year's agreement, which was made following a series of strikes on the Tube about pay.

Strike threats worked successfully for the RMT earlier this month when the company caved in to union pressure and agreed to an inflation-busting pay rise.