Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union members are walking out over pay and working conditions – but TfL says proposed changes to the working week are “voluntary”.
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London Underground workers begin a strike over pay and working conditions.
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Transport for London (TfL) bosses can’t understand why a militant union is striking over its “voluntary” changes to the working week, its director of customer operations has told LBC News.
Commuters and visitors are facing days of chaos amid a mass walkout across the London Underground network.
TfL has warned of “significant disruption” on all lines and tube services that do run will finish early, so passengers are advised to aim to have completed any journey by 8pm.
It comes amid a row over pay and working conditions – with the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union accusing TfL of imposing a four-day working week.
Speaking to LBC News, TfL’s Director of Customer Operations Nick Dent said he was baffled by the walkout given the proposed changes to the working week for train drivers are “voluntary”.
He said TfL bosses have “done everything possible to try and avoid the action” as he urged the RMT to “work with us” and come back to the negotiating table.
Apologising to commuters, he said: “We know how frustrating that is for Londoners, for visitors to our city and also for businesses. We appreciate that it’s frustrating. We have done everything possible to try and avoid the action.”
He added: “What we’ve said to the RMT is rather than disrupt London with industrial action, work with us and the other trade unions involved to work through the details because we think the impact on train operators will be minimal.“
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A sign showing the status of train lines at St. James’s Park underground.
Picture:
Getty
Rail, Maritime and Transport union members walked out from 12 noon today and services will be affected for a 24-hour period.
Train drivers will walk out again on Thursday amid the row over a four-day working week for staff.
Mr Dent said: “The changes that we are proposing are voluntary. So no driver will need to change their working patterns from a five day week to a four day week unless they wish to do so.
“The reason that we have made this offer in proposing these changes is to respond to questions about work life balance for train operators and the preference from trade unions to have a four day week pattern. That’s something that the RMT have certainly requested in the past.
“But also this will improve the reliability of our service. It will provide much better outcomes for customers.”
It comes after the RMT accused TfL of being “unwilling to make any concessions” in talks, leaving the union’s negotiators “baffled” and union members “infuriated”.
The union claims TfL the proposal to condense the working week into four days went against the expressed wishes of most drivers made clear in two separate referendums.
RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said: “We have approached negotiations with TfL in good faith throughout this entire process, but despite our best efforts, TfL seem unwilling to make any concessions in a bid to avert strike action.
“This is extremely disappointing and has baffled our negotiators.
“The approach of TfL is not one which leads to industrial peace and will infuriate our members who want to see a negotiated settlement to this avoidable dispute.”
When is the Tube strike?
The action will primarily upset the Tube schedule, and the Underground strike will begin from midday on Tuesday, April 21, and this will last until 11.59am on Wednesday, April 23.
The second day of strike action will be from midday on Thursday, April 23, which will last until 11.59am on Friday, April 24.
Further ahead, strikes will be held from May 19-20, May 21-22, June 16-17, and June 18-19.In each case, the strikes are held from midday of the first day to 11.59am on the second.
Tomorrow (Wednesday, April 22), Tube services that do run will start later than normal, with no service expected before 7.30am.
There will continue to be significant disruption on all lines until midday. By the afternoon and evening, services will be slowly recovering, with some disruption likely until the evening.
A further 24-hour strike following the same process will then begin on Thursday, lasting into Friday.
Elizabeth line, DLR, London Overground, and tram services will be running normally on strike days.
Some bus routes in the capital operated by Stagecoach will be affected by a separate 24-hour strike from 5am on Friday April 24.