Tube union wants talks with mayor

The RMT says the five-year pay offer is "unacceptable"

The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union has called for talks with London Mayor Boris Johnson to help resolve issues to avoid a 48-hour Tube strike.

The RMT said it wanted the mayor to intervene as there had been a "total breakdown of industrial relations" with London Underground (LU).

Workers plan to strike on 9 June over a pay row and proposed job cuts. LU said the RMT's demands were "unrealistic".

The mayor's office said Transport for London was "ready and waiting" to talk.

More than 2,800 workers voted in favour of strike action in a ballot which had to be rerun after LU mounted a legal challenge against the previous ballot.

LU chief operating officer Howard Collins said that was "only 30%" of union members and that the union was "clearly out of touch with their membership".

'Unrealistic' demands

The RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "RMT are in no doubt that this dispute has been deliberately provoked by managers who have gone out of their way to engineer confrontation.

"There has been a total breakdown of industrial relations and that's why RMT are calling for direct talks with London Mayor Boris Johnson in an effort to resolve the current dispute."

A spokesman for Mr Johnson said: "They (RMT) have so far failed to engage with Transport for London (TfL) beyond issuing completely over-the-top pay demands.

"TfL are ready and waiting for talks with the RMT leadership and the RMT should do what they have so far refused to do and represent their members at the negotiating table.

"The mayor is adamant that the RMT cannot continue to wreak disruption on Londoners lives with continuous threats of strike action."

The RMT has accused LU of refusing to abide by an agreement which ensured job security and ruled out compulsory redundancies which would put 3,000 jobs at risk.

A five-year pay offer by LU has also been described as "unacceptable" by the union.

LU said the RMT had demanded an "unrealistic" 5% percent pay rise and was against cutting back office jobs that had been duplicated as a result of maintenance firm Metronet being taken over by it.

The strike could cost London £100m in lost productivity, the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry said.