12.08.15
Launch date for Night Tube to be delayed
The launch date for London Underground’s (LU’s) Night Tube is to be delayed, RTM understands, and train drivers who are members of the Aslef union will not take part in strike dates set for later this month.
Following talks at Acas this morning, sources at Aslef said further talks will be held later this week between the union and LU to resolve the long-running row over all-night services.
The 24-hour weekend service on the Jubilee, Victoria and most of the Piccadilly, Central and Northern lines was due to start on 12 September, but an announcement to delay this is expected later today.
Aslef added that it does believe a deal can be reached, with the key issue being LU providing an upper limit on the number of weekend and night shifts its drivers are asked to work.
Yesterday, RTM reported that the RMT union had announced two more 24-hour strikes in its Night Tube and station jobs dispute – beginning at 6.30pm on 25 August, and again at 6.30pm on 27 August. These strikes were supported by the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) and Unite.
During this morning’s Acas discussions, LU published a statement saying that new demands made by certain trade union leaderships over the modernisation of LU, including the introduction of the Night Tube, would lead to significantly higher fares for LU passengers, or else would spell wholesale delay to vital improvements to London’s Tube service.
TfL said the cost of these demands could see a 6.5% rise in fares, which would mean an annual zone 1-2 travelcard immediately rising by an extra £83 and an annual zone 1-6 travel card costing an extra £152.
Steve Griffiths, chief operating officer at LU, said: “Having previously argued that it was all about ‘work-life balance’, certain unions have now made a whole series of unaffordable demands for more pay, shorter working hours and the reversal of the modernisation of the Tube.”
But Mick Cash, general secretary of the RMT, described the figures as “blatant scaremongering”.