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Industrial Tyne and Wear Metro staff set to ballot on strike action over pay

UNDERPAID rail workers on the Tyne and Wear Metro are to ballot on strike action over pay.

Workers on the publicly owned Metro light rail system are being subjected to the government’s 1 per cent public-sector pay cap, which they voted to reject.

Metro serves 60 stations and city centres that include Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland. It carries more than 37 million passengers a year.

The timetable for the ballot has yet to be announced.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash highlighted that inflation was running at 4 per cent and workers should not be “forced to take a hit on their standards of living just to bail out a government which seems to have plenty of cash available when it comes to looking after mates in the private train companies and beyond.

“Preparations for the ballot are under way and RMT remains available for talks.”

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