Travel

London Tube strikes in November: When is the union planning to strike?

Published

4 weeks ago

October 28, 2024

Admin

London Tube strikes in November: When is the union planning to strike?

Tube passengers will face week-long travel disruption from Sunday as a string of strikes on the London Underground begin.

Aslef, the Tube drivers’ union, has ordered 24-hour walkouts on Thursday November 7 and Tuesday, November 12.

Aslef strikes are virtually guaranteed to shut the entire Tube network. It is not clear what impact the different RMT walkouts will have but passengers face the likelihood of stations being shut at short notice.

But with RMT station staff striking on Tuesday November 5 and signallers walking out for three days from Wednesday November 6, the capital appears set for a week of disruption on the Underground.

The strikes were revealed on October 23 by the Transport for London commissioner, Andy Lord, in his regular update to the TfL board.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch

Why is the union calling strike action?

The RMT has said that London Underground bosses “imposing” pay bands will mean not all members are entitled to the same percentage increase.

Union general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Our members on London Underground are sending a clear message to management that they will not put up with substandard pay offers or any attempt to treat members unequally in any pay deal.

“We are always willing to find solutions to industrial relations issues but our members will not tolerate an imposition of any pay deal where members are not being treated equally or fairly.”

A TfL spokesperson said: “We are disappointed that the RMT has balloted London Underground employees over pay and conditions.”

Mr Lord said he was disappointed that Aslef and RMT members had voted in favour of strike action in an attempt to win an improved pay offer.

He said TfL had put forward a revised pay offer of 4.6 per cent – with train drivers offered a 4.5 per cent increase.

Mr Lord said: “I’m disappointed that Aslef and RMT members have voted in favour of industrial action following our recent discussions over pay.

“It’s extremely disappointing that Aslef have announced two days of industrial action in November on London Underground, despite our offer being fair and reasonable.

“We have held several constructive discussions with our trade unions and, after considering their feedback, have made a revised offer, with an average uplift of 4.6 per cent.

“We believe that our offer is fair for our people, affordable for London and we urge the trade unions to continue working with us to support London and avoid any unnecessary and damaging industrial action.”

When will the strikes be?

Aslef said Tube drivers, instructors, management grades and members in the engineering section will walk out on November 7 and 12.

Train drivers and instructors will not book in for duty between 00.01 and 23.59 on Thursday November 7 and Tuesday November 12 nor will managers. In addition, there will be an overtime ban from Sunday November 3 to Saturday November 16.

Engineering drivers will not book on from 6pm on Friday 1 November to 5.59pm on Saturday 2 November, and will not work overtime over November 1 to 8.

The RMT action will start on November 1 and continue until November 8. Engineering vehicles operations and maintenance staff will strike from 6pm on November 1 to 5.59pm on November 2, with no overtime until November 8.

Track access controllers, control centre, and power/control staff will strike from 6:59pm on November 3 to 6.59pm on November 4.

Emergency Response Unit (ERU) staff will strike from 12.01am to 11.59pm on November 4.

Fleet, engineering, stations and trains staff (except ERU and engineering vehicles operations and maintenance) will strike from 12.01am to 11.59pm on November 5.

Signallers and service controllers will strike from 12.01am to 11.59pm on November 6, with further strikes on November 7 and 8.

There will also be some strikes on the IFS Cloud Cable Car. These will be on Saturdays between September 28 and February 22 from 11am to 11pm.

Further talks are planned – meaning the strikes could be called off if TfL improves its offer.

Finn Brennan, Aslef’s full-time organiser on London Underground, said: “We don’t want to go on strike – we don’t want to make travelling in and around the capital more difficult for passengers and we don’t want to lose a day’s pay – but we have been forced into this position because London Underground management won’t sit down properly and negotiate with us.”