London Underground's biggest union has urged talks to commence immediately as a three-day strike is set to leave millions of commuters stranded on London's busiest lines
National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) secretary Bob Crow has urged Tube Lines boss Terry Morgan to "get around the table and negotiate".
The statement by Crow comes as some 1,000 RMT members ready themselves to down tools from noon on Wednesday 20 August in the first of two 72-hour strikes called in protest at a pay offer.
"We gave Tube Lines notice of our strike action last Wednesday, and we have heard nothing from the company since," said Crow.
The union has rejected a pay deal from Tube Lines, which operates trains on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines, saying that the deal would leave its members worse off than staff working on other parts of the network.
The rail lines affected carry three million passengers a day and the Northern line is the busiest on the network.
Morgan has said that the company would do everything in its power to maintain as full a service schedule as possible.
"Not all our employees are members of RMT and we have some people who are qualified to maintain a safe and reliable service," he said.
Members of RMT voted three to one in favour of the strike action and have scheduled a second 72-hour strike on 3 September.
By Daniel Garrun
