London Underground staff belonging to the Rail, Maritime and Transport union will walk out at 8pm tonight following the failure of prolonged negotiations at the conciliation service Acas. The union confirmed that the strike would go ahead because of its continued fears for safety on the network under the government's proposals for a public private partnership.
The strike, scheduled to end at 8pm tomorrow night, follows a similar shutdown at the end of March which led to a day of chaos for commuters, many of whom were forced on to congested roads. An Underground spokeswoman said yesterday: "If they [union members] come out in force, then it is going to be a grim day."
The Corporation of London said the last strike cost at least £100m because of lost work, production and commerce.
The union said last night that measures proposed by London Underground still fell short of the guarantees it was seeking over safety.
Bob Crow, the RMT assistant general secretary, said: "The RMT made a real attempt to resolve our differences during 18 hours of negotiations. The fact remains, however, that LU management had reserved the right to cut staffing levels, which we believe has serious implications for safety."
He added: "We want the public to know that we greatly regret the inconvenience our strike action will cause but they are likely to face a lot more inconvenience in years to come if a PPP goes ahead as planned."
A London Underground spokeswoman said: "We are very disappointed after 18 hours of talks entered into with goodwill on both sides that the RMT executive should choose to continue with the strike."
She added: "The union say the strike is about safety and that they are concerned about reductions in job numbers, but we are hiring not firing. Recently we have employed 100 new train operators and are currently recruiting 100 new station staff."
