NATIONAL Rail and Tube networks face the possibility of massive disruption following balloting of thousands of rail workers over strike action in a new row about pensions and job cuts.

TSSA union leaders have called for a ballot of 7,000 Network Rail staff of many grades after threatening a series of 24-hour strikes in a pensions dispute, and some 4000 train company employees are already voting on industrial action over possible job cuts.

Gerry Doherty, TSSA general secretary, said: “Network Rail is effectively trying to introduce a two-tier pension scheme. They are asking older, ex-BR staff to pay more to ensure their present final salary scheme continues, but new recruits are banned from the scheme for five years and then offered inferior benefits.”

Network Rail said it had contingency plans ready for any industrial action to ensure services would not be affected and would continue to talk to TSSA to try to avert a strike.

Meanwhile, the RMT union has ordered strike ballots over proposed job losses at South West Trains, First Capital Connect, National Express East Anglia and London Overground, with walkouts threatened from the end of this month.

National Express East Coast has come under fire from the TSSA union over plans to cut opening hours at East Coast main line stations.

And Merseyrail has revealed it is being forced to cut costs in the face of a cash shortfall of millions of pounds caused by plunging inflation, and cannot rule out job losses.

As Railnews went to press, more than 130 members of the RMT and Tssa were threatening a one day walkout on c2c on Monday 2 March in a dispute over holiday entitlement, after talks with employers failed to resolve differences.

Meanwhile, unions have warned Tube chiefs of immediate strike ballots if any of their members face compulsory redundancy under plans to axe 1,000 jobs on the Underground and 2,500 at Transport for London.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “There is no way that redundancies on this scale can be implemented without affecting the level of service.”