The RMT union has announced that its members at the London Underground will walk out in strike action in October. The strike only affects station and revenue staff, not train drivers, so many stations will be closed on the strike days.
The union, which says it has been in a running dispute with Transport for London (TfL) is calling the strike for Wednesday 4th and Friday 6th October.
The full details haven’t been announced, but the likely effects will be:
- Tues 3rd Oct – Services may start closing early in the evening
- Wed 4th Oct – Strike day – many stations closed (also National Rail strike)
- Thurs 5th Oct – Late start opening at some stations in the morning, and early close in the evening
- Fri 6th Oct – Strike day – many stations closed
The night tube is also likely to be affected.
It’s unrelated, but the ASLEF union is also holding a National Rail strike on Wednesday 4th October, so both London Underground and a lot of regional rail services will be cancelled on the Wednesday.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Station staff have had enough of having their livelihoods threatened by job losses and attacks on their terms and conditions.
“Station staff have a vital role to play assisting vulnerable passengers access the network safely and ensuring that the tube is a safe environment for passengers.
“These job cuts and attacks on conditions are going to lead to more unstaffed stations, temporary closures and rising passenger anger.
“TfL has had its budgets slashed but the savings made by these station staff cuts will be negatable and will lead to shortages that are unacceptable.
“This strike action will lead to the tube being shutdown and we call on Mayor Sadiq Khan to meet us urgently to discuss this matter.”
Although the RMT says that there are 600 job cuts being planned, TfL has previously said that the cuts would be through natural wastage by not replacing staff who leave and there are no plans for redundancies.
UPDATE: There’s also an overtime ban by RMT members from Sunday 15th October to Saturday 21st October, which could lead to short-notice station closures if there’s a shortage of staff.
Forgive my ignorance, but how badly affected does the Lizzie line tend to be on RMT Tube strike days? Need to get home from Heathrow to Walthamstow on 4 October, so was planning to use it to Stratford if possible.
Probably disrupted early and late on 4 Oct.
Pic line probably similar.
Buses meant to be ok so bus to Harrow etc…
Dont you just love Mike Lynch and the RMT who are doing so much to encourage use of Public Transport both now and in the future.
We have the most expensive yet run down rail system in Europe if you think about it someone is making lots of filthy cash. Just pay them or are the fat cats frightened it will eat into their bonuses??