Tube drivers to strike over Christmas period in long-running dispute

London Underground drivers are to stage a series of 24-hour strikes in a long-running dispute over working arrangements. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said walkouts will start on November 26 and continue into the new year. The union said new working arrangements are being imposed including a four-day week. 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 Eddie Dempsey, RMT The RMT says that under the plans, drivers face increased time spent driving trains, longer duties, earlier starts and later finishes.

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.” A strike designed to stop people having the choice of a shorter working week and more time off is a strange choice to make Finn Brennan, 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.” Ed Richardson, transport programme director at BusinessLDN, said: “These strikes will not bring any festive cheer to Londoners and visitors that rely on the Tube to get around the city. “While many people will be able to work from home or use other modes of travel, it will hit the hospitality sector particularly hard during the vital Christmas trading season.

“We urge both sides to reach an agreement urgently and avoid these damaging strikes.”