LONDON: Union leaders called off a three-day strike by London underground train staff hours before it was due to start yesterday, sparing millions of commuters a second week of travel disruption.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, whose members staged a 48-hour stoppage in the capital last week in a dispute over ticket office closures and job cuts, said it had called off the walkout following last-minute talks with transport bosses.
The RMT’s acting General Secretary Mick Cash said they had made “significant progress” on the issues in dispute.
“As a result of that progress ... we are able to suspend the action due to commence this evening and further talks around the fundamental issues of cuts to jobs, services and safety will now take place,” he said in a statement.
Last week’s strike caused widespread transport problems, costing firms hundreds of millions of pounds in lost working hours and productivity. But talks yesterday between the RMT and Transport for London (TfL), which runs the city’s transport network, at the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) led to the strike being suspended before the 72-hour action was due to start.
The dispute centres on TfL’s restructuring plans, which it says could save £50m ($84m) a year, but the RMT says will lead to the closure of 250 ticket offices and the loss of 950 jobs.
TfL says there will be no compulsory redundancies, and argues that fewer than 3 percent of journeys on the 151-year-old underground, or Tube, network now involve the use of ticket offices as most passengers have electronic ticket cards.
Some 3 million commuters use London’s Tube daily, and, despite services running on most lines and extra bus services during last week’s walkout, commuters posted pictures on the Internet of overcrowded streets and platforms that showed them cramming onto packed buses and trains.
Reuters
