Staged pay deal averts Christmas tube strike

In a deal struck just before Christmas, the RMT rail union settled a dispute which had threatened strike action on London Underground over the holiday period.

The deal covers 330 signals and line-control staff, and will give them a 35-hour week from July as well as staged increases in pay, to between £31,450 for an ordinary signaller and £44,000 at the top of the line-control scale by July 2007.

There will be no compulsory job losses among the signals and line-control staff, and the maximum shift will stay at 11 hours, not 12 as London Underground had proposed.

The deal is now being put to a referendum of the members, with a recommendation to accept.

"This is a fantastic deal which puts our members at the top of the industrial pay league in Britain," said RMT general secretary Bob Crow.