Talks to avert New Year’s Tube strike

Enlarge image

By Katie Allen

LONDON (Reuters) - London Underground workers are meeting managers in a last-ditch bid to avert a strike on New Year’s Eve, a day when the creaking Tube is always packed with revellers.

The RMT trade union said London Underground signals and line control staff voted overwhelmingly to strike on December 31 and January 4 to protest at their pay, conditions and proposed job cuts on the world’s oldest city subway network.

They say the strike would affect the entire network and mean the Tube would be "as good as closed down" causing transport chaos in the capital.

But London Underground says it will still be able to run a service without the 330 workers who have vowed to walk out unless talks on Friday resolve a four-year dispute over working hours and conditions.

Talks ended on Thursday night without agreement but were scheduled to resume on Friday morning.

"I understand the company did make some significant moves. So the message is ’watch this space’," an RMT spokesman said late on Thursday.

London Underground Chief Operating Officer Mike Brown said: "We have been talking to all the trade unions and we are willing to talk as long as it takes to resolve this issue."

The union is pushing for a 35-hour week rather than the current 37-hour week and it opposes plans to cut rest time between shifts.

.....continued below

Advertisement starts

Advertisement ends

Separately, London Underground was running a special service on the Piccadilly line on Christmas Eve as workers from another union walked out in support of a driver who was demoted for passing four red signals.

There was no service on parts of the line but replacement bus services were running. London Underground advised people to allow more time for their journeys, especially if they were using the Piccadilly Line to reach Heathrow Airport.