THE threat of the first national rail strike for 14 years, which would cripple train services across Britain, was raised today when the industry's biggest union announced it was balloting 17,000 workers for industrial action.
The Rail Maritime and Transport Union said maintenance and signalling staff will vote over the next week on whether to launch a campaign of industrial action in two separate disputes.
The result of both ballots will be known on May 22 and strikes
could start a week later, right at the beginning of the holiday season.
The union warned that if the strikes go ahead the railway system would be paralysed.
Ballot papers will be sent to more than 12,000 infrastructure workers after they rejected an "unacceptable" offer from Network Rail on harmonising terms and conditions.
In another row, 5000 signal workers and operational staff will be asked if they want to strike after turning down an improved offer the union said was worth just 0.1 per cent in the first year of a two-year pay deal.
The harmonisation dispute follows months of talks aimed at achieving a single set of terms and conditions for maintenance staff.
Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT, said: "The company has used the talks to drive down members' conditions. They can hardly be surprised that their pathetic offer was thrown out by a margin of more than 100 to one."
The full article contains 244 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
