Londoners face further Tube strikes

Staff reporter(wp/es):

Londoners face more crippling Tube strikes next month, the RMT union announced today.

It announced a “new phase of industrial action” over the station staffing dispute would start from February 6 unless demands are met.

General secretary Mick Cash said members had been “rock solid” during the strike spanning Sunday and Monday this week, when four million London Underground passengers were subject to delays and cancellations.

“RMT members have shown this week that they will not stand by while safety is compromised on London Underground off the back of cash-led cuts to staffing levels that the union has warned would have a serious, lasting and corrosive impact for staff and passengers alike,” he said.

“That is why our members have been forced to take this action.”

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan condemned this week’s strikes as “completely unnecessary”. They were called despite an offer by Transport for London to create hundreds of new station jobs.

Mr Cash claimed management now TfL now accepted that cuts had been a “mistake” and should make a complete U-turn.

He said: “We now need a move away from the piecemeal and incremental approach to tackling this crisis and for LU to come forward with a serious package of proposals.”

Steve Griffiths, London Underground’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “We look forward to resuming talks at ACAS on Monday in order to make progress towards resolving this dispute.”