Major London Underground strike to kick off tomorrow

Tomorrow members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union are scheduled to begin industrial action.

A 24-hour strike across night tube services ran on the Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines, beginning 4.30am on Friday.

The Union has planned further action for the coming weeks.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “This strike is about the ripping apart of popular and family-friendly agreements that helped make the original night tube such a success. Instead the company want to cut costs and lump all drivers into a pool where they can be kicked from pillar to post at the behest of the management.

“This strike action, and its serious consequences in the run-up to Christmas, was avoidable if the Tube management hadn’t axed dedicated Night Tube staff and perfectly workable arrangements in order to cut staffing numbers and costs.”

Nick Dent, director of London Underground customer operations has strongly criticised the planned action, saying:
“The RMT’s planned strike action is needless and it will threaten London’s recovery from the pandemic, despite no job losses and more flexibility and job certainty for drivers.

“While every other union has agreed to these changes and our staff have been enjoying the benefits of the changes since August, we’re willing to work with the RMT and review the changes after night tube services have returned.