TfL Head Office Managers Back Strike Action

London commuters could face more travel chaos after Transport for London managers voted to strike in a row over pay and pensions.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) said around 1,000 supervisors and managers voted by three to one for strike action. Almost half (47%) of the staff based at the TfL's head office turned out.

Manuel Cortes, the general secretary of the TSSA, has called for urgent talks to avoid strike action within the next four weeks.

"We have [the Chancellor] George Osborne telling us that he has now beaten the cost of living crisis with wages ahead of inflation while the Mayor [Boris Johnson] plans to inflict his very own brand of cost of living crisis on our members in TfL," said Cortes.

"He not only wants to freeze wages by scrapping annual increases, but wants to cut final salary pensions as well.

"Needless to say, this plan does not apply to senior managers like the Commissioner Sir Peter Hendy who took home £650,000 last year.

"This is hypocrisy of the first order. We took action in February to defend our members jobs in the ticket office closure dispute and we are now ready to do the same at TfL."

The Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) and the TSSA held a 48-hour strike in February over plans to close 260 London Underground ticket offices and axe 750 jobs by 2015.

TfL HR Director Tricia Riley said: "As with arrangements at any modern organisation, our proposed changes will ensure that our non-operational staff, who provide valuable management and support functions, are fairly paid based on their performance and their pay relative to the external jobs market."

"The only way in which these disputes get resolved is by talking and not by threatening strikes. We have been engaging with the trade unions on these issues since November and we have already invited the TSSA to continue discussions with us in a number of areas."

"We note that 60 per cent of those balloted either did not vote or voted against strike action."