THE RMT union has started a national strike ballot in protest at Network Rail plans to reduce its maintenance workforce by up to 1500.

The union said the ballot, which begins today, 25 February, was in reaction to the ‘threat of redundancies as part of a national drive to axe up to 1500 safety-critical maintenance jobs, a failure to follow existing redeployment procedures, a threat to use external contractors to carry out existing in-house maintenance work and a failure to communicate planned changes as part of the on-going Network Rail maintenance re-organisation’.

The ballot is being run in parallel with a ballot for action by the TSSA.

The RMT said ‘it had repeatedly warned that the rail maintenance jobs massacre will threaten the safety of passengers and staff and have compiled dossier on the impact of current unfilled vacancies – the latest example being a prohibition notice on works in South Wales due to a shortage of key workers’.

The union’s general secretary Bob Crow said: ’We know that the threat to axe jobs and compromise safety standards makes another Hatfield, Potters Bar or Grayrigg disaster inevitable. We have warned Network Rail repeatedly that if they don’t lift the threat to jobs and rail safety that we will have no choice but to take action. They have ignored those warnings and so the ballot will begin next week. I have no doubt that the British people will understand that you cannot take reckless gambles with rail safety in the name of “efficiency”’.

Mr Crow added that the union ‘remained committed’ to talks on the issue.

A Network Rail representative told Railnews that the company was ‘disappointed’. In a statement, the company added: ‘It is part of a wider discussion we are having about how we need to change so we can deliver the railway Britain needs in the 21st century. The way our people work needs to change too, and we have made a decent and generous offer to them. We all must move with the times but we will never compromise on safety.

‘We urge union leadership to think again before they carry out any misguided action that could jeopardise all we have achieved together in transforming the railway. At all times Network Rail has sought to negotiate and that remains our approach. We are happy to discuss any way forward to come to a resolution. We all have a duty to get best value for the British people whilst running a safe, reliable and efficient railway.’