UK - London Underground (LU) workers covered by the Transport for London Pension Fund have voted in favour of strike action in a row over pension rights.
The Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said its members last night voted by a massive 15-to-1 margin for strike action "to protect the pension rights of people forced to leave their jobs through ill health".
An RMT spokesman told IPE today the union is seeking guarantees from the employers to prevent current ill-health benefits from being changed, despite the fact only the pension fund trustees could make any such changes.
While the pension fund today declined to comment, referring back to Transport for London (TfL), a TfL spokesman said: "The trustees have not made any decision [on existing ill health pension arrangements]," adding RMT's strike action would be "a waste of time".
"We have written to the RMT making clear that any changes to the Transport for London (TfL) pension scheme would be made by the TfL Pensions fund trustees, who have a broad representative membership including the unions. They have not made any changes," said the TfL spokesman.
Nonetheless, the RMT spokesman said TfL is "missing the point", arguing changes to the ill-health pension provision have been "mooted" by employers in the past.
It is unclear if the pension fund trustees will seek to intervene in the row.
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