³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Drivers on the London Underground (LU) are to vote on industrial action in a row over Boxing Day pay.

The union Aslef said LU was insisting 26 December was a normal working day but the union wants its members to receive additional pay.

It said staff should be compensated for working at "highly unsocial times".

But Transport for London (TfL) said a long-standing agreement covering staff working arrangements on Boxing Day was in place with all trade unions.

Aslef claims it argued its case for additional payments on Boxing Day at a number of meetings with LU.

A union spokesman said: "To claim that Boxing Day is an ordinary working day is an almost unbelievable denial of an obvious fact.

"They are living on another planet if they think Aslef members will accept this piece of fiction."

It has also accused LU of having torn up existing agreements.

The spokesman said: "It used to be almost guaranteed that if you worked one bank holiday, you would not work the next. But the increase in service levels has meant this is now no longer possible.

"We are not opposed to additional services for customers, but we believe that there are times when staff need to be appropriately compensated for working at highly unsocial times - and that includes Boxing Day."

A TfL spokesman said: "LU has made every effort to resolve this issue with the Aslef leadership, which has refused to attend talks at Acas to discuss its claim for triple time and a day in lieu for its members."

Up to 11,000 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport and Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) staged a third 24-hour strike on 3 November in protest at planned job cuts.

A fourth strike is planned for 28 November but union leaders have said they have no plans to disrupt services over Christmas and the new year.