The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) have confirmed (at the very last moment) that the industrial strike action that was set to take place this week has been called off. That’s right, folks – we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief.
The London Underground was set to be hit by strikes from tomorrow (May 19) until Friday (May 22). But following a meeting today, this particular set of strikes have been cancelled.
The next set of Tube strikes (that were in the diary for mid-June), however, have been brought forward. Drivers belonging to the RMT union were set to walk out between June 16 and June 18, but these strikes have been rescheduled to earlier in the month. Industrial action is now set to take place across the London Underground network between June 2 and June 4 if no further negotiations are made.
The strikes come following an ongoing dispute around changes to work patterns and condensed hours. London Underground reportedly want to compress the hours of a normal working week into four days for Tube drivers. The union has rejected these plans and expressed concern about ‘fatigue, safety and work-life balance’.
Nick Dent, director of customer operations for London Underground, said in response to the strike cancellations: “We are pleased that RMT has withdrawn its planned industrial action this week. This is good news for London.
“Our proposal for a voluntary four-day week is designed to improve both work-life balance for drivers and the reliability of service for customers.
An RMT spokesperson said: “At the 11th hour the employer has shifted its position allowing us to further explore our members concerns around the imposition of new rosters, fatigue and safety issues.
“The dispute is not over and more strike action will follow if we fail to make sufficient progress.”