Further strikes by London Underground drivers will bring chaos this week after it was confirmed they will go ahead from tomorrow following failed talks with union bosses.
Militant members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union voted against a plan to introduce a four-day week with condensed hours for Tube drivers.
Its hard-Left boss Eddie Dempsey claims the plan could increase fatigue and compromise safety. But Transport for London (TfL) has insisted the changes are voluntary and called the walkouts ‘absolutely unnecessary’.
Now, despite accepting a three-year pay deal as recently as last November, the RMT has decided to stage another walkout of train drivers from tomorrow until Friday.
Train drivers’ union Aslef has accepted the changes, which would see the average driver’s working week reduced from 36 hours to 35.
The Circle line, Piccadilly line, Metropolitan line between Baker Street and Aldgate and Central line between White City and Liverpool Street will all see no service.
Two 24-hour strikes will run from 12pm tomorrow into Wednesday and again at the same times on Thursday to Friday.
Mr Dempsey, the RMT’s general secretary, is a union veteran who still lives in a council home despite now earning more than £100,000-a-year.
Shortly after his election last year, it emerged that he had visited the separatist Donbas region of Ukraine in 2015, not long after Vladimir Putin’s first invasion of the country.
There, he posed for photographs with the pro-Putin warlord Aleksey Mozgovoy, a commander in the ‘Ghost Brigade’ of pro-Russian separatists branded a ‘terrorist organisation’ by Ukraine’s Supreme Court.
During one rant in 2014, he urged hard-Left activists to back the pro-Putin ‘anti-fascist resistance in Ukraine’ against ‘the Western governments’ backing for the far-Right regime in Kyiv’.
Mr Dempsey also signed a letter from the notorious Stop the War coalition, which criticised Nato for showing ‘disdain for Russian concerns’ in Ukraine at the start of the war.
An RMT spokesman previously said the union ‘does not support either Vladimir Putin or his actions in Ukraine’ and Mr Dempsey said it ‘fully agrees’ with its position.
Closure signs at a London Underground station during the previous Tube strike last month
RMT Union chief Eddie Dempsey visiting Aleksey Mozgovoy, paramilitary leader in the pro-Russian militias during the war in eastern Ukraine
Hundreds of thousands of commuters will have to walk, cycle or take buses to work and back, causing chaos on London’s streets.
Businesses will also be hit hard, as they were in last month’s Tube strikes, which were backed by Zack Polanski’s Green Party.
Pub chains previously reported one of their ‘lowest trading days to date’ and hospitality firms were told bookings could fall by up to two-thirds.
Not all train drivers agree with the objection to the voluntary four-day week – which TfL says is ‘designed to improve work-life balance’ – and will be turning up to work as normal.
The Aslef train drivers’ union is in direct opposition to the RMT and accepted the proposals, labelling them ‘exactly the sort of deal every trade union should be trying to achieve’.
The union pointed out that the proposal would give drivers an extra 35 days off a year ‘in return for some fairly minor changes to working conditions’.
‘It will be the first strike in the history of the trade union movement designed to stop people having a shorter working week and more time off,’ an Aslef spokesman told the BBC.
TfL’s chief operating officer Claire Mann said: ‘It is disappointing that the RMT is planning this strike action despite our best efforts to resolve this dispute.
‘We have been clear that our proposals for a four-day week are designed to improve work-life balance and are entirely voluntary.
‘Any Tube driver who doesn’t wish to opt in to the new, four-day working pattern and associated changes to working arrangements can remain on a five-day working pattern.
‘We have also said many times in discussions that we believe the majority of the issues that have been raised would be resolved with more detailed work.’
Should Tube drivers be allowed to strike for four days or is this TOO disruptive?
TfL has released a timetable of disruption expected on the Tube this week
Hundreds of thousands of commuters will be forced to walk, cycle or take the bus to work as chaos looms over London streets ahead of the walk out
She said a significant number of drivers on the Bakerloo line supported the four-day week and urged the RMT to work with the transport provider while warning passengers to allow plenty of extra time for their journeys.
Eddie Dempsey said today: ‘We have approached negotiations with TfL in good faith throughout this entire process.
‘But despite our best efforts, TfL seem unwilling to make any concessions in a bid to avert strike action. This is extremely disappointing and has baffled our negotiators.
‘The approach of TfL is not one which leads to industrial peace and will infuriate our members who want to see a negotiated settlement to this avoidable dispute.’
