TSSA London Underground members balloted over pay, terms and conditions

London Underground's latest offer is 3.8% plus £300 for all grades. This is below the rate of inflation for February, which was 4.5%, and means yet another real term cut in pay compared to the cost of living. In addition, in recent pay talks London Underground has stated that any percentage pay rise will not automatically apply to pay bands, and that any increase to the maximum or the minimum of any pay band will be made entirely at their discretion. They have made it clear that they intend to freeze many pay bands. 

 This will immediately impact many existing staff, including those in Stations, MATS, Managers and Service Control, meaning that many staff will not receive a pensionable increase in their pay, but instead only a one-off lump sum of 3.8% plus £300. Base pay will be frozen and the impact of this will worsen over time as pay bands remain fixed, and the value of your salaries decline. 

For staff currently on spot rate salaries, London Underground has made clear its intention to move all operational grades' staff from spot rates into pay bands. With the proposed freezing of the pay bands - meaning no change to the maximum or minimum salary in the range - this could mean an indefinite or long-term pay freeze, particularly for more experienced staff. If London Underground is allowed to go forward in this way, pay freezes could last indefinitely 

 These proposals from London Underground were imposed TfL over nine years' ago and the impact of this can be seen clearly in the significant pay differences between TfL and LU staff performing similar or comparable roles. Many TfL staff have been forced to leave because they cannot afford to live on their wages. TSSA members must stand together now with other staff in London Underground to ensure we continue to negotiate all aspects of pay and conditions and that annual cost of living pay increases and improvements to terms and conditions apply to all London Underground staff. 

 TSSA is now preparing to ballot all of our members in London Underground for strike action and action short of strike. We will keep you informed and let you know when we have given notice to London Underground and when to expect your ballot papers. 

 It is vital that we stand beside our sister unions to defend pay and terms and conditions in London Underground. If we do not take this stance then we face year after year of pay freezes experienced by most of our colleagues in Transport for London. 

 To ensure that we have a good turnout and a clear vote in favour of action we need you to ensure that your personal information, including postal address, mobile phone number and personal email address, are up to date. 

 You can do this on the TSSA website via www.tssa.org.uk/mytssa 

 If you have problems accessing this, then please contact membership@tssa.org.uk with your updated information.