The RMT union has announced that it will carry out a 24-hour strike next month in the continuation of its dispute with Transport for London (TfL).

Unless the strike is called off, the all-day walkout will take take place on Friday 19th August, and is also likely to affect tube services in the early morning on Saturday as well.

Although train drivers are not on strike, so the trains will run, many stations will have to close due to a lack of staff. Those stations that can be opened may only open for limited periods and the situation is likely to change throughout the day depending on whether TfL has enough staff to safely keep stations open.

The strike is likely to have a wider impact though, as there are also national rail strikes on the days on either side of the tube strike, and those also affect parts of the London Overground and the District/Bakerloo lines that share national rail railway lines.

  • Thursday 18th August – national rail strike
  • Friday 19th August – London Underground strike
  • Saturday 20th August – national rail strike

The RMT says that the latest tube strike has been called after they said TfL refused to share the details of the draft funding agreement that was offered by the Department for Transport (DfT) last Friday. TfL needs to decide if it will accept the terms offered by the DfT by the end of tomorrow.

The union wants to see the financing document before TfL’s management makes a decision.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Our members will once again take to picket lines in this important dispute over pensions, jobs and conditions.

“They have been messed around by TfL and Mayor Sadiq Khan. And to add insult to injury they have not seen the detail of this funding letter from government.”

The RMT is seeking assurances that the planned reductions in staffing numbers won’t go ahead, that pensions won’t be revised and there will be no changes to working conditions.

TfL’s position has been that it can reduce total headcount by around 600 station staff by not replacing staff who leave so there are no redundancies. TfL wouldn’t hire around 250 Customer Services vacancies that are currently unfilled, as well as placing controls on future recruitment, with the aim of reducing posts by a further 250-350 as people retire or move on from TfL. If implemented, then TfL would see the customer service workforce fall from around 5,000 to around 4,500 staff

The RMT says that the cuts will affect safety, whereas TfL argues that the rise of contactless payments and the use of smartphones to look up travel information means that it doesn’t need as many staff in the stations now.

The RMT is giving TfL until Tuesday 2nd August to cancel its planned cuts.

If it goes ahead, the tube strike will take place on Friday 19th August.

This article was published on ianVisits

SUPPORT THIS WEBSITE

This website has been running now for just over a decade, and while advertising revenue contributes to funding the website, but doesn’t cover the costs. That is why I have set up a facility with DonorBox where you can contribute to the costs of the website and time invested in writing and research for the news articles.

It’s very similar to the way The Guardian and many smaller websites are now seeking to generate an income in the face of rising costs and declining advertising.

Whether its a one-off donation or a regular giver, every additional support goes a long way to covering the running costs of this website, and keeping you regularly topped up doses of Londony news and facts.

If you like what your read on here, then please support the website here.

Thank you

* This article was originally published here