The union that is bringing the London Underground to a standstill this week is considering further industrial action on other parts of the Transport for London network.
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) is striking over pay, conditions and concessions and there is little sign of TfL giving in to its demands. There are no talks planned for Tuesday.
The RMT has demanded a reduction in working hours from 35 to 32 a week, an improvement on a 3.4 per cent pay offer and an extension to a discount scheme on mainline travel for staff. The union is the biggest on the London Underground and represents about 40 per cent of drivers.
• Tube strikes: chaos for London commuters as services shut down
The Elizabeth Line, operated by a Japanese conglomerate on behalf of TfL, is still running because it is a separate company.
However, the RMT is threatening a period of “sustained industrial action” on the line over a plan that it claims would result in the closure of ticket offices. The union claims to have seen “unredacted documents” signalling that the offices would be earmarked for closure by 2027.
Eddie Dempsey, the general secretary of the RMT, said that such a move was “like pouring petrol on the fire” during industrial action elsewhere on the network.
Eddie Dempsey
LEWIS LANGSTAFF-WOOD/ALAMY
The documents, which have been seen by The Times, suggest one “priced option” included the closure of all “operator-leased” ticket offices by 2027 as part of a wider modernisation programme. It was not clear whether other options were being considered and The Times could not independently verify the documents.
TfL said “there are no plans to close ticket offices”.
The RMT has also declared a “formal dispute” with ABM, an outsourcing company, over a pay offer to cleaners on the Underground. The workers include those who remove graffiti from Tube trains, which has increased markedly over the past year.
The RMT said ABM had offered cleaners only a statutory increase in the London living wage “and made no offer whatsoever on sick pay”.
Dempsey said cleaners were “denied sick pay, scraping by on poverty pensions and left to struggle month after month while ABM extracts millions in profits and dividends”. He added: “Unless this company comes back with an offer that properly rewards cleaners for their work and provides basic dignity like sick pay, we will ballot for strike action across the contract.”
Commuters used bikes to get to work
PA
The RMT has long campaigned for cleaning services to be brought in-house at TfL.
The ABM said: “We are disappointed to learn that the RMT is considering balloting its members. Having collaborated with the union at every step, the move is not only surprising, but it also threatens unnecessary disruption to the cleanliness of the Tube network for customers.
“The work our team members deliver on the Transport for London contract is exemplary and we will continue engaging constructively with RMT on pay discussions.”