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The RMT confirmed in a statement at lunchtime on Friday that the company and its administrator failed to give the unequivocal guarantees on jobs, transfers and pensions that the union is seeking.

"The letter we have received from Metronet and the administrator falls way short of the guarantees our members need and deserve," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said.

"What we sought was firm, unequivocal guarantees, but frankly our members are being asked to stake their jobs and their pensions on a pig in a poke. The only assurances we have received about jobs and transfers cover only the period of administration, and that is simply not good enough."

"It is strange that the administrator can determine all sorts of things about the future of the PPP contracts, apparently including who the next fat-cat privateer might be, but is not in a position to give on-going guarantees on the jobs of the people who actually do the work.

"On pensions we have received no guarantee from the employer at all. When the government forced through the disastrous part-privatisation of the Tube, the deputy prime minister told the world that the pensions of our members would be safe. What we need from the administrator and Metronet is an unequivocal confirmation that Prescott's statement will be adhered to by this employer or by any other employer under the PPP. Anything less is unacceptable."

Representatives of the RMT union, Unite and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) were due to meet today to discuss calling off London Tube strikes scheduled to start on Monday. Metronet maintenance workers are scheduled to strike for 72 hours from 18:00 on September 3, and again from 18:00 on September 10 over jobs, transfers and pensions arising out of Metronet's collapse and its being placed in administration.

Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, and Transport for London, met representatives of the Metronet trade unions, the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, TSSA and Unite on Thursday. At the meeting the Mayor outlined how he intends to proceed following the collapse of Metronet, and in relation to the concerns raised by the trade unions representing Metronet employees.

RMT told London Underground that unless it receives unconditional assurances that drivers will not be expected to drive trains that have not been fully prepared and inspected by qualified staff over tracks that have not been properly inspected in line with minimum standards the union will be in dispute.

"Train operators are obviously concerned that if Metronet staff do take action, the regular train preparations and track inspections will not be undertaken within usual timescales," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said.

"Our members regard the current train-preparation and track-inspection procedures as minimum standards, and they are not prepared to see them diluted, temporarily or otherwise."

"I have told London Underground that in the event of industrial action at Metronet, it is not acceptable for train operators to be asked to drive trains over track sections where either has not been the subject of the established preparation and checks, with or without dispensation from HMRI or the Chief Engineer."

"There is no way our members can be expected to put themselves or members of the public in danger, and I have made it clear to London Underground that unless we receive the unconditional assurances we are seeking we will be in dispute," Bob Crow said.

Ken Livingstone said: "Transport for London has notified the Administrator that it will be bidding to take over the Metronet contracts. I would then like to see the contracts restructured by Transport for London so that maintenance is controlled directly by London Underground and in those areas that are outside of London Underground’s own capacity, such as building new trains, contracts are let to the private sector on a competitive basis."

"With regard to the current dispute between the trade unions and Metronet, Transport for London has been given assurances by the Administrator which meet all of the trade unions’ concerns. These are that no staff will be transferred and there will be no job reductions, during the period of administration."

"I take the concerns of staff regarding pensions extremely seriously and I have no intention that any staff should lose a penny of their pension as a result of the collapse of Metronet. That is Transport for London’s policy and they will be urging the pension Board of Trustees, upon which the unions are represented, to underwrite this commitment."

"I am asking the Administrator and Metronet to make clear that they will implement these undertakings. As each of the issues which the trade unions have raised have been fully addressed, I believe the threatened strikes, next week and the week after, are not justified and should be called off."

The RMT, TSSA and Unite unions are furious that administrators from Ernst & Young at the troubled London Underground maintenance firm Metronet have refused to rule out job losses and transfers.

Metronet's shareholders include  engineering firm WS Atkins, Bombardier, Thames Water, EDF and Balfour Beatty. The administrators have estimated Metronet's losses to be in excess of £300m. In June, Bombardier said it would record a write-off of its Metronet investment of approximately £82 million in the second quarter of fiscal year 2008.

Metronet was responsible for the maintenance of nine out of twelve Tube lines, including the Bakerloo, Victoria and Central, under a private-public financing initiative, and had announced plans to invest £17bn over the next thirty years. However, it failed to secure additional funding after cost over-runs estimated at £2bn by 2010. It had asked London Underground for £551m to cover extra costs to upgrade parts of the Tube system but instead was awarded £121m by the PPP regulator.

Last month, Transport for London (TfL), the transport authority that controls London Underground, blamed mismanagement and a lack of financial control for the overspend. Metronet responded by saying that TfL and London Underground had changed the specifications since signing the contracts.

The unions' wider political agenda behind the planned strikes takes in the unions' resentment of Public Private Partnership (PPP) funding arrangements and Metronet's "fat cat shareholders". The unions have made clear that the 2012 Olympics could become a transport nightmare if their demands are not met. 

"Our members are the people who get out there and keep the Tube running seven days a week, and it is they who will deliver the improvement the network must have if it is to be up to the standard required by the 2012 Olympics. The PPP stands in the way of those improvements, and the time has come to return the work to the public sector where it belongs."

"Maintenance on the national railways has improved massively since it was brought back in-house, and that is the only sensible solution for the Tube as well," Bob Crow said.

"Of course we welcome Ken Livingstone's desire to bring Tube maintenance back in-house, but the fact remains that the guarantees we need can only come from the employer."

"When the jobs and pensions of our members are at stake - not to mention the Tube upgrades that the capital cannot do without - vague assurances are not enough, and the strike by our members will go ahead at 6pm on Monday."