DRIVERS on London’s new Night Tube have been “picked out” and denied the opportunity of becoming full-time, rail unions said as they opened a strike ballot yesterday.
Part-time drivers, now represented by unions RMT and Aslef, were recruited when the service launched last summer.
Tube drivers are normally drawn from the wider London Underground workforce, but part-timers have been barred from moving into full-time vacancies for the first 18 months. Part-time station staff, however, are eligible to apply.
With 121,000 vacancies and 44.8% of staff feeling unwell from work stress, the NHS 10-year plan will not succeed unless the government takes immediate action to retain existing staff, writes ANNETTE MANSELL-GREEN
On the eve of the 157th Trades Union Congress, MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, celebrates victory in his campaign to get dignity for drivers at work


