TUBE staff have called for urgent talks with London’s mayor to avert a strike expected to cause severe disruption.
Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union workers are due to walk out on Monday for 24 hours, the first working day after the Platinum Jubilee weekend.
Transport for London (TfL) apologised and branded the action, over jobs and pensions, ‘particularly frustrating’.
From Friday, RMT Tube station staff will also carry out action short of a strike – meaning they will not work overtime or rest days – which may affect some journeys.
Sadiq Khan said he was ‘pleased the RMT are open to talks’ over the industrial action which would see 4,000 staff walk out.
A spokesperson said: ‘The mayor urges the RMT to call off this strike action which will have a serious impact on London’s businesses and commuters, at a time when we are working to get more passengers back on to the network and boost the capital’s economic recovery.’
TfL said the entire network would be affected by Monday’s action, and urged people to consider working from home and to ‘not to take (their frustration) out on those who are trying to help’.
Andy Lord, TfL’s chief operating officer, said: ‘We haven’t proposed any changes to pensions, and nobody has or will lose their jobs because of the proposals we have set out.
‘We know our customers deserve better than this and that is why we’re urging the RMT to call off this action and work with us to find a resolution to this dispute, which is threatening London’s recovery from the pandemic.’
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: ‘We are demanding a direct face-to-face meeting with mayor Sadiq Khan to sort this mess out.
‘There’s no point in our union continuing to sit opposite management representatives who have neither the inclination nor the authority to negotiate a settlement, when the power lies with the mayor.’
- ARRIVA bus drivers in Yorkshire are to take indefinite strike action over a pay offer.
Arriva Yorkshire said Unite union members weare expected to strike from 02:00 BST on Monday ‘for an undisclosed period of time’.
The company said the strike action was ‘unjustified’.
But Unite said an offer of a 4.1% pay increase to its 650 members was “pitiful” and well below the current inflation rate.
The union said 96% of Arriva staff had voted in favour of industrial action.
