07.07.15
Tube strike is on as last-ditch talks fail
Last-ditch talks between London Underground officials and the four unions have failed to head off the planned Tube strike.
Union sources told RTM that the talks ended at 5pm with no agreement in place, and meetings had not been scheduled between the parties at Acas tomorrow. Therefore, the strike is on.
This means thousands of workers from all four unions representing underground staff are set to walk out from Wednesday evening, completely closing the network throughout Thursday.
The 24-hour walkout on Wednesday evening would cause the most widespread disruption on the capital’s Tube network in more than a decade. The strike is set to begin at 6.30pm on Wednesday evening when members of RMT, Unite and TSSA are due to walkout, with Aslef drivers striking from 9.30pm.
Despite having a deadline of 6.30pm on Monday to accept a final offer in the dispute over pay and rostas for the impending Night Tube service, managers decided to remain available for talks on Tuesday afternoon.
However, the RMT said that its representatives on London Underground have discussed the offer and are clear that it is “divisive and unacceptable”.
Earlier today, Finn Brennan, Aslef’s lead negotiator in talks with TfL, said that the union has continued in contact with Acas this morning and remain ready to discuss any offer London Underground make.
“For three months they didn’t change their position, then they gave four trade unions one afternoon to unconditionally accept an offer before withdrawing it. That means there is currently no offer from London Uderground on the table,” he said. “This is no way to conduct serious negotiations. They have entirely wasted the window of opportunity to resolve this dispute over the last three months and are now trying to blame the trade unions for the impact of their inept tactics.”
Transport for London has issued travel information for passengers if the strike goes ahead, adding that staff on the DLR, London Overground, the bus network, tram and TfL Rail services are not on strike. These services will run as normal, but they will be much busier than usual and customers are strongly advised to, if possible, travel outside of the morning and evening peaks on Thursday.
Steve Griffiths, London Underground’s chief operating officer, said: “Our customers are advised to check the TfL website for the latest information as we seek to resolve the dispute and to keep London moving should the unions go ahead with their action.”
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