06.12.16
RMT suspends LU strikes after eleventh hour agreement
Drivers' strikes due to start today on the Piccadilly and Hammersmith & City lines have been called off after RMT and London Underground reached a last-minute agreement.
The union had called the 24-hour strikes, due to start at 9.30pm tonight, because of an alleged “wholesale breakdown in industrial relations” on Piccadilly and “heavy-handed and aggressive management” on Hammersmith & City.
However, it announced yesterday that, following ACAS-brokered talks, the union had resolved the Piccadilly Line dispute and committed to further talks to reach a long-term agreement on Hammersmith & City.
Mick Cash, general secretary of the RMT, said: “Talks with London Underground have proved to be positive and focused and as a result we have been able to make enough significant progress to allow us to suspend the strike action in both disputes that was scheduled for tomorrow evening.”
Steve Griffiths, London Underground’s chief operating officer, said: “We welcome the RMT’s decision to withdraw the strike action planned for this week and we are pleased that customers will not have their journeys disrupted. We have been engaged in constructive talks for the past few weeks and we’ve reached a positive agreement on the way forward in resolving these disputes.”
(Image c. Transport for London)
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