The RMT is advising other union members to use the Tube on strike days.
The PCS Union’s Whitehall branch raised with the RMT whether it should be encouraging its members to avoid the Underground on days that it was being hit by industrial action.
But the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) said PCS members should “please travel as you can”.
Londoners were being hit with travel misery on Thursday in the second day of strikes by the RMT this week in a dispute over a four-day week for Tube drivers who earn around £74,000 a year.
Services were expected to run on most Underground lines, though with disruption and delays.
During the first walkout day this week, on Tuesday, six in ten drivers turned up to work, up from the 57% during the April industrial action.
Just over half of Tube drivers are members of the Aslef train drivers’ union.
But more RMT drivers are also believed to have decided to work in the latest strikes, compared to those in April.
Hi, no, please travel as you can and if you see a picket line then give us a wave 👋
— RMT (@RMTunion) June 3, 2026
In an X exchange, the PCS Union Whitehall branch, which represents civil servants and outsourced workers in Government, raised with the RMT what it should advise its members to do on strike days.
It messaged: “Hey @RMTunion comrades 🫡 should we be telling our members in London not to try and get the tube lines that are running on strike days so we don't cross your picket lines, or encourage people to try to use the network to cause more disruption?”
The RMT responded: “Hi, no, please travel as you can and if you see a picket line then give us a wave 👋”
An RMT spokesman later said: “At no point has the union encouraged people to use the network to undermine industrial action.
“We understand strike action is disruptive and Londoners will travel as they can. But we encourage them to support our picket lines and our members taking strike action.”
Business chiefs have warned how the industrial action is already hitting the hospitality sector and other firms who rely on people being able to get into and travel around London.
The RMT has rejected proposed reforms by Transport for London, branding them a “fake” four-day week, and raising concerns over driver fatigue, late notice of shifts and the roll-out of work Ipads.
One union rep complained that the Ipads were “too small” to watch Netflix on.
There is no suggestion that this union rep was from the RMT, or which union he or she was from.
Eleventh-hour talks were held at Acas to try to avoid the strikes this week but RMT and London Underground officials failed to find a resolution to the dispute.
Transport for London insists that the four-day week will be voluntary and no driver will be forced to accept it.
The RMT’s position in rejecting the changes has been severely undermined by Aslef firmly backing the reforms and hailing them as offering drivers the best working conditions on the mainline rail network.
Aslef has explained to its members a series of benefits from the changes including an extra 35 days away from work a year, and average weekly rostered hours being cut to 34 from current average of 36.
They would make it easier to arrange roster patterns, the union added, to block leave together, or take long weekends or mini-breaks, and would save money on travel and childcare costs.
For the first time, drivers would be allowed to volunteer for overtime which would be paid at time and a quarter under the reforms which Aslef says will deliver the “biggest improvement in working conditions for Underground train drivers in decades”.
