London Underground strikes: Drivers to stage series of 24-hour walkouts

London Underground drivers are to stage a series of 24-hour strikes in the next few months in a dispute over working arrangements, the RMT union announced.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said walkouts will start on November 26 and continue into the new year.

New working arrangements are being imposed including a four-day week, which the union says would mean drivers face spending more time driving trains, longer duties, earlier starts and later finishes.

RMT has said a change to the shift patterns could cause short-notice changes to shifts and changes to existing transfers and annual leave arrangements.

The union has also raised serious concerns that the proposals would pave the way for hundreds of job cuts, with initial rosters published for the Bakerloo line indicating significant reductions in staffing.

The 24-hour strikes will begin at noon on November 26, December 17 and 19, January 4 and 6 and February 17, 23 and 25.

“London Underground is attempting to dress up a wholesale attack on drivers’ working conditions as a voluntary four-day week,” RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said.

“But there is nothing voluntary about a scheme that forces drivers to give up existing protections whether they work four days or five, and threatens those who refuse with displacement from their depots.

“Our members are being asked to spend more time driving trains, accept longer and more unpredictable shifts and surrender agreements that have been negotiated and defended over many years.”

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