Commuters face a four-day Tube shutdown next week and disruption from Sunday until Friday if a union presses ahead with threatened strike action, Transport for London has warned.
Talks were being held between TfL and the RMT union in a bid to avert what would be one of the worst strikes in years. Dialogue was said to be “ongoing”, with TfL saying it was “working hard” to resolve the dispute.
But on Tuesday afternoon it set out the full impact on passengers if the RMT’s 10,400 members do walk out on a “rolling” basis from Sunday morning.
This will result in disruption across the Tube on Sunday, with “limited services” operating - and passengers urged to complete all travel by 6pm.
Between Monday and Thursday, a network-wide shutdown is feared. There will be “little or no service” across the Underground, with any services that do run starting later than usual, with no service before 8am.
On Friday, there will be no Tube trains before 8am and it will take until mid-morning to return to a normal service.
The RMT has ordered different staff to walk out at different times as part of a battle to win a 32-hour working week - down from 35 hours at present - in addition to an offered 3.4 per cent pay rise.
Claire Mann, TfL's chief operating officer, said: “We are disappointed that the RMT union has announced strike action.
"We regularly meet with our trade unions to discuss any concerns that they may have, and we recently met with the RMT to discuss some specific points. We are committed to ensuring our colleagues are treated fairly and, as well as offering a 3.4 per cent pay increase in our ongoing pay discussions, we have made progress on a number of previous commitments.
“We welcome further engagement with our unions about fatigue and rostering across London Underground, but a reduction in the contractual 35-hour working week is neither practical nor affordable.
"Given the improvements we have recently put in place in response to concerns raised by our unions, we urge the RMT to call off this action, which will only disrupt Londoners.
“We want them to continue to engage with us and put our fair, affordable pay offer to their members – which reflects a figure that is line with offers accepted by RMT across the rail industry. If this strike action goes ahead customers should check before they travel as on some days during the strike, there will be little to no service."
The dispute has already resulted in Coldplay moving the dates of two of their 10 concerts at Wembley Stadium – from Sunday September 7 to Saturday September 6, and from Monday September 8 to Friday September 12 – to the dismay of many fans.
But the revelation that the Underground faces a virtual four-day shutdown will heap pressure on London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, who chairs the TfL board, to intervene.
TfL, in a warning on its website, advised passengers that Tube services would be “severely disrupted” from Sunday “with little to no service expected”.
It added: “Any services that do run between Monday 8 and Friday 12 will start later than usual with no service before 08:00.”
In addition, no DLR trains are expected to run on Tuesday and Thursday next week due to a RMT dispute over pay and conditions with the private consortium that operates the network for TfL, Keolis Amey Docklands.
In January last year, Sir Sadiq found £30m from City Hall reserves to avert a threatened strike by the RMT that would have crippled the post-Christmas return to work - sparking accusations that he had “given in to union blackmail”.
Keith Prince, transport spokesman for the City Hall Conservatives, said: "Khan has been absolutely useless in keeping his promise of 'zero strikes' during his mayoralty.
“The mayor has spent his summer swanning around on taxpayer-funded foreign trips whilst leaving Londoners in the lurch - even the world-class performers like Coldplay are having to [re-arrange] gigs because of the uncertainty.”
Muniya Barua, deputy chief executive at BusinessLDN, said: “It’s extremely concerning to hear that the capital is set to be disrupted by strikes yet again, just as schools reopen and Londoners head back to work after the summer break.
“This industrial action will hit already sluggish economic growth, particularly in sectors like hospitality and retail that are struggling due to hikes in employment costs.
“We urge all sides to work together to avoid a damaging scenario where the city grinds to a halt.”
Hina Bokhari, leader of the Lib-Dem group on the London Assembly, said: "A week-long Tube strike is deeply disappointing.
“Londoners are paying a high price for this complete breakdown in industrial relations and both TfL and the unions must get back around the table and find a way forward to keep this city moving."
On the Tube, RMT members will begin taking action from 6pm on Friday, but this only involves managers at the Ruislip depot striking for 24 hours – a local dispute that is not expected to have wider ramifications.
Network-wide issues are expected to begin on Sunday, when track access controllers, control centre, power/control staff and emergency response unit members will walk out.
Tube drivers and station staff belonging to the RMT will walk out from 0001 on Monday for 24 hours and again from 0001 on Wednesday – meaning no trains.
Signallers and controllers will strike on Tuesday and Thursday.
TfL sources said the overall impact was likely to mean a near shutdown between Monday and Thursday next week unless a deal could be struck to avert the strike.
A RMT spokesman said: “We remain open to talks and are awaiting a revised offer.”
A spokesperson for the Mayor said: “Nobody wants to see strike action or disruption for Londoners.
"Strikes have a serious impact on London’s businesses and commuters. The Mayor continues to urge the RMT and TfL to get around the table to resolve this matter and avoid this industrial action.”
However the Elizabeth line – which carries about 780,000 passengers on weekdays - and the London Overground will continue to operate, though both are likely to be much busier than normal.
There is also the possibility that Lizzie line and Overground trains may not be able to stop at some stations that are shared with the Underground, or that interchanges will be impossible.
The Elizabeth line and Overground are able to keep operating during a Tube strike because both lines are run by private operators under contract to TfL – unlike the Tube, which is run by staff employed directly by London Underground, a subsidiary of TfL.
TfL has offered all Tube staff a 3.4 per cent pay rise, in line with other increases across the UK rail industry.
But the sticking point is understood to be the demand from the RMT to reduce the 35-hour working week for its members.
This is something that TfL is refusing to do – and the complexity of the situation may mean that a breakthrough will not be easily found in time, meaning the strikes cannot be averted.
Industry sources said the RMT leadership had “dug themselves into a hole” by promising their members reduced hours – and could not work out how to “save face” while TfL refused to bow to the union’s demands.
Many Tube staff work in excess of 35 hours a week due to the necessities of early morning and late-night shifts but “bank” overtime and leave days for the extra hours.
Reducing the working week by even an hour could prove unaffordable to TfL, which is facing far more challenging financial situation than last year, when it made a £162m “operating surplus”.
Last week, at a meeting of RMT members, several speakers stressed the importance of not suspending action unless “substantial concessions” were secured.
Rank-and-file members also wanted the union executive to ensure they were “properly consulted before any strikes are called off”.
The Standard has learned that Coldplay only announced the changes concert dates on Saturday to prevent the new Friday September 12 gig also being targeted by the RMT.
By law, unions have to give two weeks’ notice of strike action.
The decision to switch two of the concert dates came after Coldplay encountered similar concerns during a previous tour about a threatened Tube strike.
A decision was made jointly between the band’s management, Wembley Stadium, TfL and Brent council that the most sensible option was to move the dates of two of the concerts, due to the challenge of getting 82,000 fans safely in and out of Wembley if the Tube were shut.
Wembley Stadium said the new dates were now fixed and the shows would not be switched back to their original dates should the Tube strikes be averted.
A TfL spokesperson said: “We will be providing as many alternative transport options as possible during the strike action, should it go ahead.
“But it is clear that the planned strike means that we are unable to guarantee enough service on the Tube to get fans safely away from the gigs at Wembley on 7 and 8 September.
“We have worked closely with the event promoters, Wembley Stadium, City Hall colleagues, Coldplay’s management team and other partners to explore all options – but safety must come first. There was no conceivable way that the events on these days would have been licensed to proceed by the local authority, given the RMT’s action.
“In light of this, the promoters have announced that the planned concerts on 7 and 8 September will be rearranged to 6 and 12 September instead. We are working closely with them and other partners to support the new dates and ensure that they are a success.”
Any Coldplay fans who are unable to attend their rescheduled show can get a full refund but need to apply by midday on Tuesday.
Any returned tickets will be put on general sale at Ticketmaster from 11am on Wednesday, September 3.
