Members of the Unite, TSSA, ASLEF and RMT unions are set to stage a walkout in protest at plans to force staff to work through the night in order to support the new weekend Night Tube.
Due to start on September 12th, the service will run on Friday nights and during the early hours of Saturday and Sunday mornings on the following lines:
• Central line: trains will run between Ealing Broadway and Hainault;
• Jubilee line: trains will run on the entire line;
• Northern line: trains will run on the entire line except on the Mill Hill East and Bank branches;
• Piccadilly line: trains will run between Cockfosters and Heathrow Terminal 5;
Victoria line: trains will run on the entire line.
Plans for the Night Tube were first unveiled by Mayor Boris Johnson in November 2013 before securing a staffing agreement with the unions who say changing the rostering arrangements for staff will adversely affect their work-life balance.
London Underground and the unions have held a series of talks aimed at resolving their differences but the strike looks set to go ahead after unions rejected a revised pay deal including “an average two per cent salary increase this year,” a £500 bonus, an extra £200 per Night Tube shift for drivers and a £500 bonus for station staff.
Steve Griffiths, London Underground’s Chief Operating Officer, described the offer as “extremely fair” and claimed managers “have made every effort to reach agreement with the unions and avoid this unnecessary strike action.”
However RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said LU bosses had failed to properly plan for the new service and were now expecting members of his and the other unions to “plug the gaping holes in staffing capacity that should have been dealt with from day one.”
The strike will see all Tube services stop running at 18:30 BST on Wednesday and there will be no service all day on Thursday.
The Docklands Light Railway, London Overground and the capital’s bus services will all run as normal but are expected to be busier as displaced Tube passengers find alternative routes home.
