TUBE workers began a series of strikes today as a second union said that it will ballot members after rejecting a pay offer.

RMT union engineers walked out in protest at a 5 per cent pay offer after talks this week failed to resolve the dispute.

General secretary Mick Lynch said that Tube workers were not going to accept poor offers and the “continual undermining of conditions.”

He said: “The refusal of Transport for London (TfL) to restore staff travel facilities and create a two-tier workforce is also unacceptable.”

TfL said there will be little or no service between the evening of Sunday and the morning of Friday January 12.

The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) said that it will ballot its London Underground members after rejecting a pay offer of 5 per cent and a plan to freeze pay bands and salary ranges.

TSSA general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust said: “Our members on London Underground are deeply unhappy at this sub-standard and simply unrealistic offer.”