More than 11,000 workers will walk out over 800 planned job cuts Commuters are set to face another day of severe disruption on London’s Underground network as a third 24-hour strike over job cuts begins.
About 11,000 members of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association and Rail Maritime and Transport union are striking over plans to cut 800 jobs.
Maintenance workers walked out from 1900 GMT. Operational staff will not report for shifts from 2100 GMT.
Transport for London said cuts would not result in compulsory redundancies.
It also said the planned cuts, mainly from ticket offices, would have no impact on safety
A Transport for London (TfL) spokesperson said: “The changes we’re proposing to ticket office opening hours are in line with customer demand, so that our employees are deployed in those places and at those times where passengers most value their help and reassurance.”
TfL issued a list of 80 stations of the total 270 stations on the network which will remain closed during the strike.
“I hope the RMT and TSSA leaderships will face facts and see that their action achieves nothing aside from depriving their members of another day’s pay”
Boris Johnson Mayor of London
The list includes Angel, Piccadilly Circus, Heathrow Terminal 4, Fulham Broadway, Marble Arch and Charing Cross.
The union said the list was “pure fantasy” claiming that many stations could be opened “without staff with potentially dire consequences”.
But TfL said about 200,000 people viewed the list of closed stations it issued during the last strike in October.
“We intend to run well over a third of Tube services once again,” TfL said.
Extra buses and river services will also operate during the strike.
Earlier, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington John McDonnell tabled a motion in the Commons “commending” unions for protesting against job cuts on the Tube ahead.
The Commons motion, backed by Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn, Ealing Southall MP Virendra Sharma, Jim Dobbin, MP for Heywood and Middleton, and Luton North MP Kelvin Hopkins, agreed with the unions’ proposals for “reasonable and safe staffing levels”.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “All we have been asking is that the London mayor stick to the pledge he made during his election campaign, when he too recognised that people wanted to see stations staffed properly.”
London Mayor Boris Johnson said: “I hope the RMT and TSSA leaderships will face facts and see that their action achieves nothing aside from depriving their members of another day’s pay.”
A fourth strike is planned for 29 November.
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