You know the RMT was planning to ballot its 1,500 Tube driver members for strike action? Well they've now decided that's not enough and they're also going to ballot 5,000 members from across the entire Tube membership.
The official reasoning behind this, according to Gen Sec Bob Crow, is that "London Underground management's attempts to impose rather than negotiate have undermined industrial relations right across the company," and so, "After months of trying to stop these attacks, it has become clear that the only path left open to us is to ballot our entire Tube membership for industrial action, and we have given London Underground notice to that effect."
Of course, it could be argued that strike action has recently become more of a relfex action than a last resort as far as the RMT are concerned; and that, because previous strikes have failed to cause the necessary disruption, a 'tube-wide' strike is needed in order to press the point home/hold London to ransom (depending on how you want to look at it).
London Underground have responded in the normal, managerial manner: "We seek to be fair in all matters with our employees," said Chief Operating Officer Mike Brown. "If any employee or union has a genuine grievance ... the only way to resolve the matter is through discussions, using procedures agreed by unions and management."
Results from the drivers ballot will be announced on Thursday while the larger ballot will be announced on February 23. Rail union Aslef is also currently balloting its members over whether to strike or not... in fact Londonist might hold a ballot too, if everyone else is.
