London Underground workers will strike for almost a week from Sunday 23 July until Friday 28 July, the RMT union has announced. The row is over pensions, job cuts, and working conditions which the union said could put 600 positions at risk. The tube drivers’ union Aslef has also announced its members will walk out on Wednesday 26 and Friday 28 July. The action is the latest escalation in a long-running dispute between the unions and Transport for London (TfL). In March, thousands of London Underground workers walked out over the same issues.
The RMT has not yet confirmed which groups of workers will strike on which day, nor whether the action will last for a solid six days. TfL said it was “disappointed” by the union’s decision to take strike action. Glynn Barton, chief operating officer for TfL said: “There are no current proposals to change pension arrangements and, although we are discussing with union colleagues a range of proposals to improve how London Underground operates, no employee will lose their job or be asked to work additional hours.
But the RMT said staff stood to be poorer in retirement if proposed changes by TfL go ahead, claiming they will lose up to 30% of their pension pot. The row comes after passenger numbers failed to recover after the pandemic which led TfL to claim it needs to make £900m in savings. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “This week of action will shut down the London Underground and show just how important the work of our members is.” The union’s industrial action began last year and has led to a lot of disruption to services. However, this will be the longest strike to date in a sign of worsening relations between unions and tube bosses.
The proposals to axe several hundred jobs will leave stations with fewer staff, according to the RMT, which it says isn’t safe. But pensions appear to be a more crucial red line for the unions, and it is difficult to see how this will be resolved unless they stay as they are. There are already separate rail strikes scheduled at 14 train companies on 22 and 29 July, around the time that most schools in the UK are on holiday for the summer.
Those rail strikes also fall on dates of some of the summer’s biggest sporting events. The golf Open Championship is taking place at Royal Liverpool from 16 to 23 July. Cricket fans travelling to the fourth and fifth Ashes Tests at Old Trafford in Manchester and The Oval in London could also have the challenge of navigating through disrupted services. The RMT train strikes in June 2023 meant that the Eurovision song contest which took place in Liverpool and the FA Cup final were affected.
