Exact dates London Underground will be hit by strikes over the Christmas period

Under the plans, drivers face increased time spent driving trains, longer duties, earlier starts and later finishes, the union says (Picture: Sinai Noor/Shutterstock) London Underground drivers are staging a series of 24-hour strikes over the Christmas period. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said walkouts will start on November 26 and continue into the new year over an ongoing dispute over a four-day work week being implemented.

Under the plans, drivers face increased time spent driving trains, longer duties, earlier starts and later finishes, the union says. The 24-hour strikes will begin at noon on November 26, December 17 and 19, January 4 and 6, and February 17, 23 and 25. RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said: ‘London Underground is attempting to dress up a wholesale attack on drivers’ working conditions as a voluntary four-day week. ‘But there is nothing voluntary about a scheme that forces drivers to give up existing protections whether they work four days or five, and threatens those who refuse with displacement from their depots. ‘Our members are being asked to spend more time driving trains, accept longer and more unpredictable shifts and surrender agreements that have been negotiated and defended over many years.’

The rival union Aslef strongly supported the four-day work week, calling it a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity for workers’. Tube workers in support of the work week have left RMT in droves, choosing to take their union membership to Aslef. Finn Brennan, Aslef’s full-time organiser on London Underground, said: ‘We are surprised that the RMT has, once again, decided to take strike action to try to prevent Underground drivers moving to a four-day week on a voluntary basis. ‘The voluntary four-day week gives Tube train drivers an extra 35 days off every year, with rosters based on a 34-hour week in return for some changes to working conditions and moving to electronic, rather than paper-based, systems for booking on for duty. ‘We are in discussions with Transport for London about how the final details of this will work in practice. ‘Management have agreed that anyone who wants to keep working a five-day week will be able to do so without suffering any detriment, and we will be holding them to that. ‘A strike designed to stop people having the choice of a shorter working week and more time off is a strange choice to make.’

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