Labour Morning Star
Tube drivers to strike over Christmas in long-running dispute
LONDON Underground drivers will stage a series of 24-hour strikes in a long-running dispute over working arrangements. The RMT said walkouts will start on November 26 and continue into the new year, w
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The RMT said walkouts will start on November 26 and continue into the new year, with action beginning at noon on November 26, December 17 and 19, January 4 and 6 and February 17, 23 and 25.
The union said new working arrangements are being imposed, including a four-day week, with drivers spending more time driving trains on longer duties with earlier starts and later finishes.
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.”
Aslef London Underground organiser Finn Brennan said the union was “surprised” at the RMT’s decision, saying 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.”
He said management had agreed anyone wanting to keep a five-day week could do so “without suffering any detriment,” adding: “A strike designed to stop people having the choice of a shorter working week and more time off is a strange choice to make.”
Nick Dent, London Underground’s director of customer operations, said drivers could now choose to remain on a five-day week with a guarantee of staying at the same depot, urging the RMT to put the offer to members.