Tube passengers face lengthy delays to their journeys this week after London Underground maintenance workers voted to strike in a row over pay and conditions. Dozens of stations will be involved in the strike which affects the Northern, Jubilee and Piccad

Tube passengers face lengthy delays to their journeys this week after London Underground maintenance workers voted to strike in a row over pay and conditions.

Dozens of stations will be involved in the strike which affects the Northern, Jubilee and Piccadilly lines.

Around 1,000 members of RMT (Rail, Maritime and Transport) union at Tube Lines will walk out at noon on Wednesday for 72 hours and again two weeks later.

The two 72-hour strikes will also affect the other lines because Tube Lines operates emergency response units across the whole network.

The turnout for the vote was only 361 but the union says that the workers, who are employed by Tube Lines, voted by more than three-to-one in favour of industrial action.

The company says it has offered two deals to workers - a one-year deal worth 4.85 per cent or a two-year agreement for 4.95 per cent and inflation plus 0.75 per cent in the second year.

But RMT bosses said the package offered to Tube Lines workers is inferior to the deal already agreed by the union for staff doing identical work on Metronet.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "RMT members on Tube Lines do the same work as colleagues on Metronet and they have today made it clear that they are not prepared to be left worse off.

"Tube Lines has made enormous profits on the backs of our members' hard work, yet they seem to expect that they will accept an inferior deal on pay, pensions and conditions.

"Metronet workers can join a final salary pension scheme, but Tube Lines wants to keep the door closed on it, and Tube Lines members are also denied the travel facilities that Metronet staff enjoy."

A TfL spokeswoman said: "We hope Tube Lines and the RMT can work together to avoid any unnecessary strike action.