London Tube drivers are set to go on strike from Friday, causing travel chaos for millions of commuters and Christmas shoppers.
Members of the RMT union are set to begin a series of 24-hour walkouts tomorrow over changes to staff rotas to restart the Night Tube after talks between TfL and union bosses broke down.
The Victoria, Central, Northern, Piccadilly and Jubilee lines will be brought to a standstill on Friday, causing further disruption for the Bakerloo, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines.
The action would continue on the Central and Victoria Lines from 8.30pm until 4.30am every Saturday between December 17 and 18.
TfL states that the lines could be severed beginning at 7pm on weekends, which would cause major disruption for Christmas revellers.
TfL sources told London Evening Standard that “not much has developed” since industrial action was announced. However, they said that TfL is open to discussions with RMT.
London facemasks still in place, passengers leave busy Underground train
Underground drivers protest over the staff rotas Night Tube to be restarted. Night Tube services will resume on Sunday, late Saturday and early Sunday on the Victoria or Central lines.
TfL insists all other Tube unions agreed in May to the change in the rotas, which came after 200 Night Tube staff were integrated into TfL’s ‘day Tube’ workforce, and called the strike action ‘unnecessary’.
Mick Lynch, RMT general secretary, accused Tube bosses’refusing to consider serious grievances that are at the core of the dispute’. He added however that the union’remains open to talks’.
According to the union, these changes resulted in unacceptable and intolerable demands on its members.
Similar strikes had been planned for the same issue during summer, but were canceled after talks with TfL.
Mayor Sadiq Khan and TfL are ‘confident’ of being able to restart the night services but said they may be able to run fewer Tube trains than hoped.
TfL may be even more disrupted over Christmas, as ASLEF threatens that its members might strike over TfL’s changes to their pension plans.
TfL must conduct an evaluation of its pension plans as part of the Government’s funding agreement.
Finn Brennan (ASLEF Tube Organiser) stated that there will be an “hard-hitting, sustained industrial action across London Underground” in the event of changes being made. He did not specify when but it is known.
Sir Brendan Barber (ex-TUC general secretary, and currently head of ACAS) has been named to oversee a “truly independent” review of TfL pensions.
Andy Byford from TfL stated there’s no predetermined outcome of the review, and that they’d report back to you in the due course.
Lynch made this statement today: “This strike concerns the destruction of popular, family-friendly agreements that contributed to the success of the original Night Tube.”
“Instead of cutting costs, the company would like to lump all drivers into one pool that allows them to be kicked from post to posts at the direction of the management.
“We have tried every effort, in ACAS as well direct talks since then to resolve this dispute. But it is obvious that LU bosses are only driven by the bottom line. They do not care about the safety of passengers or their employees.
Sadiq Khan the Mayor of London, with members of Battersea Power Station’s Community Choir at newly opened Battersea Power Station London Underground station in south London
This strike, with its severe consequences for Christmas Eve, could have been prevented if Tube management didn’t remove dedicated Night Tube employees and make perfectly acceptable arrangements to decrease staffing and cut costs.
LU must face up to the fact that we warned months back that slashing 200 Night Tube Train Driver jobs would cause a staffing nightmare.
“The union continues to be available for talks, even in this very late stage.”
He said on Monday: ‘While Tube bosses have axed staff and left stations routinely unstaffed, with all of the obvious risks, we have campaigned relentlessly for the front line, physical presence of visible staff on stations and platforms.
“We’re being punished by working arrangements that will ruin the work-life balance for our members. It is hard to underestimate the outrage this has caused among drivers.
“All this could have been avoided if Tube management had not axed dedicated Night Tube staff, and made perfectly practical arrangements to reduce staffing costs and staffing.
TfL has been reached out for comment.