The union says the strikes, which are scheduled for 23rd June and 14th July, are necessary following “the failure of TfL and the company to give concrete assurances on jobs, pay and working conditions.”
In a statement issued on Wednesday morning, RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said: “We have given TfL, and their newly-acquired subsidiary Tube Lines, plenty of opportunity to give us assurances that staff won’t take the hit for the failure of the doomed privatisation project. They have failed to give us those assurances leaving us with absolutely no option but to announce these strike dates to protect both our members and the safety of the travelling public.”
Crow said that “maintenance schedules on Tube Lines are being hacked to the bone and that situation will only deteriorate, with dire consequences for the travelling public, if more jobs are axed.”
Responding to the announcement, a TfL spokesperson said called on the RTM to “enter proper dialogue with us after our acquisition of Tube Lines.”
The spokesperson noted that the union “have time and again called for Tube Lines’ work to come back under public control” and said the deal with Tube Lines shareholders for TfL to acquire the company “will generate substantial savings for TfL and enable us to upgrade the Tube to a timetable that suits Londoners and in a way which is much less disruptive for our customers and businesses in future.”
