Aisha Gani's afternoon tube strike summary
1 – The main story of today was that RMT had demanded an urgent meeting with London mayor Boris Johnson. In a statement Mick Cash the general secretary had said:
It has become clear from the media coverage over the past forty eight hours that Boris Johnson has taken direct control of the current tube dispute.
As the Night Tube is his personal project, and as chair of Transport for London, it is now time for the Mayor to reverse his long standing policy of not meeting with the trade unions and to give our negotiators an opportunity to set out the facts to him directly.
2 – However, Johnson is unlikely to agree, and earlier today he said this BBC Radio London:
“It is total nonsense to say I haven’t met the union leadership. I have met them many times over the years. What I won’t do is sit down and negotiate with them when they are holding a gun to Londoners’ heads. This is something for the management of London Underground. It would be totally wrong for politicians to weigh in when the managers of the tube are trying to sort this out. What the unions want to do is muddy the waters about who is running the tube.
3 – A private bus company, Travel Masters, says it has launched a full investigation after the driver of one its vehicles was filmed swearing and racially abusing a passenger during the strike (see 14:31).
4 – Meanwhile in the land of taxi battles, app company Uber today rejected claims it was unfairly stealing trade from Londons black cab drivers during the Tube strike.
Black cabbies queuing today outside Victoria station in central London were met by only a trickle of customers, despite the entire Underground network grinding to a halt.
Some blamed rival Uber, which allows customers to book a taxi on their mobile phone, although the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) blamed the school holidays.
Uber spokesman Harry Porter also rubbished the notion and said his firms drivers had also seen a relatively low demand.
He said: “They do have huge advantages over us.”
“They can drive in bus lanes, which would be incredibly useful on a day like today, and they can also street hail.
Porter added: “I dont think we have seen the same demand as last time. I think this time people were more prepared.”
5 – Of the new plans, the London mayor has said he is “not fussed” about exactly when the Night Tube starts, but said there would be no more money on the table.
“I want it starting in the autumn,” the mayor said, adding: “I am not going to authorise any more money. Most people would recognise that this is a very generous deal.”
London Underground says it is hiring 137 more train drivers and 245 new station staff to work on the Night Tube, and says that no existing employees will be working more hours than they do at the moment.
The mayor says that the new service will benefit not just revellers but also many night shift workers, insisting: “They are the working people of London.”
Currently trains depart the outer edges of London some time after 5:00am and the last services leave the centre about half past midnight.
The new 24-hour service on five lines would bring London in line with other cities such as New York, Berlin and Sydney.
6 – The latest round of negotiations broke down on Monday, when union leaders rejected an offer of a 2% salary increase and bonus payments for night shift workers.
Mick Cash, RMT union leader, had said it was “just a rehash of an earlier package and does nothing to tackle the fundamental issue of our members being called into work at the beck and call of management to plug staffing gaps in the mayor’s botched Night Tube plans.”
The unions have called for the launch of the service to be delayed pending further talks.
Thanks for following our coverage today. That’s it from me, as I join the commuting abyss myself.
You can follow me on twitter @aishagani and you can leave your comments below the line.
Updated
Here are some comments of solidarity for those taking industrial strike action, from our call out earlier.
Naomi Hannay, from Brockley, said:
I support the tube workers in their strike; what does annoy me is that many of us have paid for our season tickets and travelcards so have already paid for our travel, and TFL have a day without having to pay any of their staff.
I’m disheartened by the public vitriol against these people (incited by the media) who just want to make a stand for their rights. If my boss told me that I’d have to start working over the middle of the night there’s no way I’d accept that. It would completely destroy my life. It also annoys me that people compare the wages earned by tube drivers to other industries, like junior doctors.
Maybe they earn more, or equivalent, or whatever, but surely we should be pressing for higher wages for everyone not a race to the bottom where we’ll end up with everyone earning minimum wage. I’m glad tube drivers earn well, they provide a valuable service. I just wish all workers were paid a fair wage for a fair days work.
Rachael Ferguson, said:
I love my job. I woke up early and left the house at 05:30. I got into work on time - an east to west commute, which normally takes one hour took two.
I will be leaving early also.
I fully support the strike. I know it is about the safety and the work-life balance of the staff of the London Underground. I believe wholeheartedly that the government is trying to make an example of the Transport Unions to drum up support for sanctions on Unions. It is already happening with Public Sector workers losing the right to have Union fees deducted from their salaries. I am sure there is other legislation on the table. This government got in on less than 37% of the national vote and they are squeezing us workers for everything they can get. The abhorrent arrogant behaviour of TFL, the Mayor’s office and the government and swayed my support more in favour of the Unions.
Paul Fielding, from Buckinghamshire, said:
I commute in to central London every day. Yes, it’s chaos. Yes, it’s frustrating. Yes we all wish there wasn’t a strike but despite the hellish journey in to work I still support the strike.
Oxford Circus was actually dangerous yesterday it was so over crowded, but if anything, it made me appreciate the tube service more rather than hating the workers for striking.
I would rather deal with on-going industrial action than use a service where workers are exploited and subjected to a contract that effectively wipes out the possibility of a work / life balance. They shouldn’t be vilified for wanting what we should all be demanding: fair work. Fair pay.
Have your say here:
Updated
Some Londoners are seeing bright side of life:
@TfL Tube strike report from Acton... The sun is shining the flowers are being pretty! #tubestrike #overground pic.twitter.com/LcPKMCtcxR
— Roxie Haines (@RoxieClaire) August 6, 2015
Over at our news communities desk, James Walsh says that we’ve been getting comments from tube workers and even from travellers who support the strike:
I work as a station assistant in central London. I definitely don’t want to be on strike - the amount of grief it causes for me and my colleagues before the strike, and after, is horrible. It becomes open season to attack anyone in an London Underground uniform. All day Wednesday was a barrage of outright abuse and sarcastic comments, fuelled by the media’s selective reporting. The most common comment was “I wish I could get an extra £200 per shift.” Station staff - the ones who will be dealing directly with drunk revellers on the night Tube - aren’t being offered £200 per shift, of course. Few seem to understand that for most of us, this isn’t about money, or even just the night Tube.
The TFL staff member, who wished to remain anonymous, added:
It’s about so-called modernisation, perhaps better known as change for change’s sake. I haven’t read anywhere in the press that LU has abolished permanent, rostered station staff. For example, I have worked at my station for around 12 years, and I work to a roster, meaning that I can plan my life like a person doing a normal 9-5 job. LU will now require me to work anywhere on the line, at any hour of the day, and even with their new assurances, only give 28 days notice of rest days. That means that if a friend is getting married in October, I can’t guarantee that I can attend, because I won’t know for sure if I’ll be off on the day in question. That’s the kind of work life balance we’re asking for. Everyone is suffering - thousands of staff, and millions of ordinary Londoners - because of Boris Johnson’s latest vanity project. And as one elderly gentleman remarked to me yesterday, we should get the day Tube working properly before thinking about a night Tube.”
A map showing all the effing and blinding on Twitter about the #tubestrike is updating live.
Right now, f*ck is at the top of the sweary leader-board.
Although there will be no tube service until Friday morning, these other services are still operating:
That’s good to know.
Updated
Just to remind you of the open letter from London Underground, signed by Nick Brown the managing director, stated the revised offer to staff was:
- An above-inflation average two per cent salary increase this year and an inflation proof rise in 2016 and 2017.
- Staff on Night Tube lines or stations will be paid £500 once the service is introduced on 12 September.
- Station staff will receive a £500 bonus in February 2016 for the successful completion of the modernisation of customer service, currently being carried out.
- Drivers, who already work shifts covering 24 hours, will receive an extra £200 per Night Tube shift during a short transition period, after which they will have the choice whether or not to work Night Tube shifts.
The letter goes on to say:
The unions rejected this fair offer outright and instead demanded more money, the hiring of even more staff - including for ticket offices that customers no longer use - and a 32 hour, four day week. No employer can afford to meet those sorts of demands.
Hello commuters, I’m Aisha Gani and I’ll be taking you through the tube strike in London on this rolling blog for now.
So far, we know that:
- The RMT has demanded an urgent meeting with Boris Johnson the London mayor (see 13:00).
- Four trade unions have been locked in a months-long dispute with management over Johnson’s plans to run a 24-hour Tube service on Fridays and Saturdays from September 12.
- Today, an extra 250 buses, additional rental bikes and increased river boat services were laid on to help ease the disruption, while overground trains were operating as normal.
- The underground however handles 4 million journeys every day, meaning many trains and buses were overcrowded Thursday, while roads were clogged with cyclists and pavements filled with pedestrians who decided it was quickest to walk.
- also, it is the second time the Tube has shut down in a month, after a similar strike on July 8 and 9 caused the first network-wide closure for 13 years.
- Finally, the sport of “people dodging” is currently being perfected by the crowds pounding the capital’s pavements:
PA has put together a video of Alan Price riding that penny farthing to work to beat the strike.
Bus company launches investigation into racist abuse by driver
The private bus company Travel Masters says it has launched a full investigation after the driver of one its vehicles was filmed swearing and racially abusing a passenger during the strike.
Martin Clark, transport supervisors at the company confirmed that one of the vehicles was being driven when the incident took place. It was one of the vehicles hired by Transport for London to cope with the extra demand for buses, he said. But Clark pointed out that the driver was employed by a separate company Woods Recruitment. “We have seen the footage. We are going to launch a full investigation. I am personally very disappointed that a person representing the company was acting in that way. It will dealt with very seriously.”
He said he will be urging Woods Recruitment to take action against the driver who was recorded verbally abusing the unseen passenger and questioning her ability to speak English. “The driver has put our company into disrepute. That company is going to have to discipline him,” Clark said.
Clark added: “There appears to have been a crowd control problem at that stop. There should have been someone at the stop to not allow so many people onto these buses.”
He explained that the full incident would have been filmed on a CCTV camera installed on the bus.
A spokesman for Woods Recruitment said “We are reviewing the incident. I have been told not to comment further.”
#TFL #tubestrike u recruit random drivers to carry us through the strike who think it's OK to abuse its passengers pic.twitter.com/676hztfD4G
— Tuggy (@motivationcxnt) August 6, 2015
Updated
As well as paddle boards, roller blades and that penny farthing, skate boards and scooters have also been deployed off by commuters.
Tempers were fraying between a passenger and a swearing bus driver on an extra bus service contracted from the company Travel Masters to cope with the strike, according to this video.
Number 25 bus in ST Pauls #TravelMasters #Buscompany #TFL #HorribleService #RascistDriver pic.twitter.com/iDTMbdt0H2
— Tuggy (@motivationcxnt) August 6, 2015
Updated
RMT demands meeting with Boris
The RMT has demanded an urgent meeting with London mayor Boris Johnson.
In a statement General Secretary Mick Cash said:
“It has become clear from the media coverage over the past forty eight hours that Boris Johnson has taken direct control of the current tube dispute.
“As the Night Tube is his personal project, and as chair of Transport for London, it is now time for the Mayor to reverse his long standing policy of not meeting with the trade unions and to give our negotiators an opportunity to set out the facts to him directly.
“From the Mayor’s statements it is clear that he has not got the message that this dispute is not about money it is about work/life balance and it is essential that with Mr Johnson now taking charge of the dispute that he grasps the fundamental issues. That can only happen through a direct meeting which looks like it’s now essential to making serious progress towards a resolution of this dispute.”
Johnson is unlikely to agree, earlier today he said this BBC Radio London:
“It is total nonsense to say I haven’t met the union leadership. I have met them many times over the years. What I won’t do is sit down and negotiate with them when they are holding a gun to Londoners’ heads. This is something for the management of London Underground. It would be totally wrong for politicians to weigh in when the managers of the tube are trying to sort this out. What the unions want to do is muddy the waters about who is running the tube.”
Updated
Aerial footage captures the impact of the strike with trains packed neatly away in depots as bus queue lengthened.
Summary
Here’s a summary of what’s happened:
- London’s commuters faced another frustrating journey into work after London Underground workers from four unions continue their second 24 hour strike in a month over a planned night tube. The RMT union said support for the strike was solid causing the shutdown of the entire tube network.
- There has been heavy demand for buses with long queues at transport hubs but the impact of this month’s strike has been less severe than July’s walkout. The satnav firm TomTom reported 428 traffic jams at the peak of the rush hour, compared to 1,445 jams last month.
- Intrepid commuters used various forms of transport to beat the strike including a penny farthing, roller blades and a paddle board. Around 250 extra buses were provided and there were more river services.
- Both sides in the dispute refused to offer any concessions and resorted to trading insults. London mayor Boris Johnson said he was not negotiate with “bonedheaded” unions while they were “holding a gun to commuters’ heads”. The RMT said Johnson was a being a dishonest “buffoon”.
- The strike has opened up divisions among the Tory candidates for mayor. MEP Syed Kamall and Tory MP Zac Goldsmith both said they would talk with the unions to seek an end the dispute. But London Assembly member Andrew Boff suggested the solution was driverless trains.
Nic Jackson, development manager at Notonthehighstreet.com, paddled into work from Richmond to Chiswick.
The Tube strike and England’s great start in the test match at Trent Bridge makes it a good day to bunk off work, comedian Chris Addison points out.
Australia 19 for 4 before 11.30. Good day for a tube strike.
— Chris Addison (@mrchrisaddison) August 6, 2015
Australia have now collapsed to 29 for six.
Commuters vent their frustration ...
Some of press reports have described “travel chaos” but travelling to the Guardian’s offices in central London from Portsmouth was not that bad, writes Rosie Shields.
There were fewer people on the train from Portsmouth Harbour, probably because many had come in earlier in an attempt to avoid the rush or were choosing to work at home.
Admittedly when we got to Waterloo there were huge queues for pretty much every form of onward transport. The lines for a few of the buses were tailing right back into the station. To add to the frustration a number of buses were only running half services.
However the Transport for London team really were great, advising me to catch a different bus to the one I had planned which meant I didn’t have to queue and only had a short walk the other end.
Glad I didn't go for a taxi this morning pic.twitter.com/rDkl1XvcH8
— Rosie Shields (@r_sieshields) August 6, 2015
Definitely chose the right bus, some had queues all the way back into the station! pic.twitter.com/rJUQyQqJit
— Rosie Shields (@r_sieshields) August 6, 2015
Shout out to the Transport for London people who helped me pick the right bus this morning! pic.twitter.com/eDqYYUl2F0
— Rosie Shields (@r_sieshields) August 6, 2015
Admittedly others didn't have such a good journey #cramped pic.twitter.com/hSmY01GZgu
— Rosie Shields (@r_sieshields) August 6, 2015
The unions and London mayor Boris Johnson have resorted to trading insults. Johnson accused the union leadership of being boneheaded (see earlier). Steve Hedley, RMT’s senior assistant general secretary, responded by calling the mayor a lying buffoon.
Speaking to BBC London he said: “That buffoon Boris Johnson doesn’t know what he’s talking about. We’ve seen the [proposed night tube] rosters. They are an absolute nightmare. They are trying to roster people 23 weekends out of 24. They are telling lies.”
Updated
Penny farthing man
Alan Price deserves come kind of prize for biking in on a penny farthing.
Fewer traffic jams than last month's strike
Today’s strike has caused less disruption than last month’s walkout because it comes when many Londoners are on holiday, according to figures from the sat nav company TomTom.
At 8.45am there were 428 separate traffic jams causing 197 miles of tailbacks, TomTom told PA.
That was double the congestion at the same time last Thursday, although not as bad as the previous Tube strike a month ago when there were 1,445 jams and 761 miles of delays.
The most congested roads were around Parliament Square (delays of 48 minutes) and on the A40 from Wood Lane to Marylebone Road (30 minutes).
‘With many Londoners away on holiday and no school runs, the roads were not as congested this morning as they were during the last strike four weeks ago,’ said a TomTom spokesman.
By way of comparison here’s the same map of traffic jams during last month’s strike.
Updated
The Conservatives are challenging Labour to condemn the strike.
Will @UKLabour condemn these unwarranted attacks on working people or continue to put unaccountable union bosses first? #tubestrike
— CCHQ Press Office (@CCHQPress) August 6, 2015
The Labour leadership candidates haven’t said much about the strike lately, but MP Diane Abbott, who is backing Jeremy Corbyn’s bid, did tweet in support of the walk out.
If you think Tube drivers are overpaid, you don't understand how capitalism works http://t.co/TJ8VzWyvP7
— Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) August 6, 2015
The worst for buses are outside London’s big stations such as Victoria and Liverpool Street.
The queue at Victoria station waiting for buses earlier (there is 30 secs more of this) #tubestrike pic.twitter.com/ItfeTMvuYF
— Zahid Lalani (@zahidlalani) August 6, 2015
The queue for buses at Liverpool Street now almost stretches the length of the station #tubestrike @BBCTravelAlert pic.twitter.com/rh5wwGPeSo
— Richard Main (@RPMain) August 6, 2015
Extra Boris bikes have been put on at Waterloo, according to this image from Martyn Thomas.
Lots of Boris Bikes, down the hill from Waterloo Station. #tubestrike pic.twitter.com/ni3jKEui4A
— Martyn Thomas (@TheMartynThomas) August 6, 2015
But many people have been beating the strike on their own bikes.
While others have taken to rollerblades.
Updated
Former Housemartin and Beautiful South frontman Paul Heaton is backing the strike.
#solidarity with #RMT and #ASLEF members
— Paul Heaton (@PaulHeatonSolo) August 6, 2015
Greg Hands, chief secretary to the Treasury, isn’t.
The TfL offer is fair, sensible and generous & will see no-one working more hours than they do today. RMT #tubestrike is wrong.
— Greg Hands (@GregHands) August 6, 2015
David a station assistant on London Underground, thinks the night tube is great idea, but he says he is on strike because of the way the new system is being implemented without regard for the work/life balance of staff.
Writing on the TUC’s Stronger Unions blog he says:
I currently work 35 to 40 hours a week, doing shifts of 7 1/2 hours. Currently they start as early as 5am, and finish as late as 1am. The changes London Underground Ltd wants won’t mean me working more hours, but they will alter my shift patterns, making me work more unsocial hours to cover the new all-night shifts, some of which would be 12 hours long.
Along with many others, I’m being reclassified as a ‘supervisor’. That basically means the new night shifts will be compulsory and non-negotiable, and many of us will have to do solo staffing of stations as staff are stretched out to cover.
My wife and I have two boys and a girl, aged 15, 12 and 4. Between us, we’ve worked out a pattern that lets me be home to look after the kids, whilst my wife works evenings from 5pm to 9pm. It often feels that my wife and I don’t see enough of each other, but we need the two incomes.
This will only get worse under the new terms. I can take my eldest son to RAF cadets, and my daughter to her karate class in the evenings, but the new days I have to work could put paid to that. Our childcare costs will go up too, and evening childcare is especially expensive.
My colleagues and I are worried about safety, and what it’ll mean for the tube service itself. Depending on rotas, we may have to work 7 shifts in a week, and only be guaranteed a 12 hour gap between an all-night shift and our next shift. If I’m the only one at the station, that responsibility is worrying if I’ll be tired – what if someone’s taken ill on the platform, or a drunken disturbance, if I’m tired-out and working a station alone? I’m also likely to see more verbal or physical abuse on all-night services, which is a big concern ...
IF LU press ahead with these compulsory changes it’s going to be terrible for my family, and that’s my bottom line. The kids are growing up fast and I don’t want to miss out. I’m worried I’ll be too tired to spend quality time with them because of chopping and changing between early morning, late evening and all-night shifts.
I think a lot of it is just politics – the Mayor shouldn’t have promised a start date for night trains before negotiating fair shift arrangements with staff. He doesn’t want to admit he messed up, so he’s making out we’re the ones to blame.
Aslef leader Mick Whelan has defended the unions’s decision not to put London Underground’s offer to members. In an interview with BBC Radio London he said the management had not been clear about the offer. “We are not getting sufficient or definite answers that allow us to go to our members to put something to them to say ‘this is an acceptable way forward’.”
Whelan added: “We are not against the night tube. We would like work in partnership to deliver a night tube in a reasonable and adequate manner.”
Hainult picket line 😀 pic.twitter.com/aJ8gF1HB3s
— ASLEF (@ASLEFJubilee) August 6, 2015
Here’s the scene at the ticket barriers at Clapham ...
Massive queue at ticket barriers at Clapham Junction. #tubestrike @itvlondon pic.twitter.com/rYadEVI5m5
— Ruth Zorko (@RuthZorko) August 6, 2015
A London Underground employee on a fixed term contract has emailed us to explain why he’s on strike.
The employee who wants anonymous due to his contract wrote:
Drivers work unsociable hours. They can be working three out of four weekends and almost every bank holiday and have been doing so for many years. For managers to come along and say we are introducing a night tube and not consult the drivers and station staff and enforce a new working pattern on them without consulting them is unethical.
We could work 17 weekends and have one off, potentially. The unions in previous years have fought for our work conditions and have kept our jobs secure. I am on a fixed term contract with London Underground at a time where my job future with London Underground is in question yet they are hiring new staff on permanent contracts around me.
I feel alienated by a company that treats staff as if they are slaves. In any work place where terms and conditions are changed without consultation there will be uproar: thankfully we have our unions to back us.
Johnson accuses unions of holding Londoners hostage
Boris Johnson has defended his decision not to intervene in the strike and accused the unions of blackmail. Speaking to BBC Radio London he said he had spoken to the unions many times, but added: “What I won’t do is sit down and negotiate with them when they are holding a gun to Londoners’ heads,” he said.
The mayor said the offering being put by LU’s management was an “excellent deal” which should be put to the workforce.
He also repeated one of the “tosh” points highlighted below by the TUC as misleading. “Everybody knows these train drivers are already very well paid with very considerable periods of annual leave”, Johnson said.
He urged the unions to call off “this pointless strike” and added: “I have no sympathy for union leadership who will not put a very good deal to its members.”
The mayor accepted that the unions do have a “big mandate” for a strike, but he added: “Londoners know that these staff are not badly paid. They are being offered bonuses. There is no real extra time they are being asked to work. We are hiring another 137 more train operators.”
He also managed to crowbar Labour leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn into the conversation.
Johson said:
“Most people can see this is the union leadership trying to flex their muscles, absolutely hellbent on having a strike, because they want to make some sort of point - they didn’t like the general election result or they don’t like Conservative union reform or they love Jeremy Corbyn or something like that. And it is totally boneheaded of them.”
Updated
Once again RMT General Secretary Mick Cash has said union support for the strike is “absolutely solid”.
In a statement he said:
“The action is absolutely solid on London Underground across all unions, all grades and all lines and depots. That sends out the clearest possible message to Boris Johnson and his tube bosses that they must now take the staff grievances seriously and get back into genuine and meaningful talks.
“Our dispute is not with the travelling public it is with those who have botched the introduction of Night Tube and who are trying to plug staffing gaps by wrecking any chance of a decent work/life balance for our members. It really is as simple as that.
“The anger and determination of a wholly united tube workforce can be seen on the joint picket lines across the network this morning. Those voices must be heard and understood now and talks convened so that the fundamental issues at the heart of this dispute can be resolved.”
The TUC is seeking to counter union bashing over the strike by highlighting the impact of night shifts and seeking to combat some of the “tosh people are talking about the strike”.
Here’s the first point.
What are they complaining about? Tube drivers get nearly £50,000.
Where to start? People are getting tied up on this one in a whole heap of ways. There’s those saying drivers deserve the cash for a difficult and responsible job (they do), that other public service workers should get more (they should), that it shows more people should join unions (duh), that most of those complaining about that don’t reckon bankers are overpaid (funny that), or that it’s a function of capitalism (well yes).
But that’s all missing the point by a country mile.
Most people on strike today are not tube drivers. A Driver is a relatively senior position in London Underground. Station staff start at around half what tube drivers get. That’s for a job that currently includes anti-social hours working, and is now moving into full-on sociopathic hours working. Not many people outside the comment pages of the Daily Mail would begrudge a platform attendant that much. So shut up already about people on £50k.
Compulsory all-night shifts are huge problem for families. Need a fairer approach http://t.co/LO5ndBLKfE #TubeStrike pic.twitter.com/nTAAeL2O6U
— TUC Media Team (@TUCnews) August 5, 2015
Readers of the blog Conservative Way Forward are backing driverless trains as a way of ending Tube strikes. More than 90% of readers backed the idea, but this hardly surprising given the question: “With the feckless Tube drivers on strike again today, the question of automating Underground has been raised. Should we allow these Luddites to continue to cause chaos or replace the lazy drivers with robots?”
Updated
A whopping queue for buses has formed outside Victoria station, according to journalist Charlotte Wright.
The queue at #Victoria for the number 73 about 45 mins ago #tubestrike @LBC pic.twitter.com/2HVqCbaluG
— Charlotte Wright (@Chilli_Wright) August 6, 2015
The Tube strike has opened up divisions among the Tory candidates for mayor.
Tory MEP Syed Kamall and Tory MP Zac Goldsmith have both said they would talk with the unions to seek an end the dispute.
But London Assembly member Andrew Boff suggested the solution was driverless trains.
In a video he said: “I love the DLR. No drivers, no one to strike!”
Pictures of commuter hell are starting to arriving thick and fast.
LU accuses unions of being determined to strike
London Underground’s chief operating officer Steve Griffiths insists that the company understands the unions concerns about work/life balance on the planned night Tube. He also accused unions of being determined to go ahead with the strike. “We need to seek resolution, but this cannot be at any cost,” he said.
Speaking to BBC London he said: “They [the unions] are clearly not understanding our commitment to a work/life balance. They rejected our offer outright on Monday saying they didn’t understand the commitment we were making. If they didn’t understand them we had two and half days to talk about them and get them solved. But clearly they were determined to have a strike this week.”
He pointed out that the company has put on an extra 500 extra staff to run the new night shifts. “Nobody is being asked to work extra hours,” he said.
Griffiths confirmed plans to cut 800 workers as part of LU’s plans to modernise stations, But he insisted this was a separate issue from the night shifts.
Updated
Summary
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. More prosaically welcome to live updates on the latest strike on the London Underground.
Yet again hundreds of thousands of commuters are battling into work without tube services as the four unions involved fight out the dispute with London Underground and Mayor Boris Johnson over the airwaves and social media.
The strike, over plans to introduce all-night services started last night, but we are likely to see the worst disruption this morning. It comes after last month saw the biggest strike on the network for years, and the unions have warned that more strikes could follow, with a mandate for continued industrial action until the dispute is resolved.
Once more extra buses (including the vintage Routemaster variety) have been laid on, TFL has dusted off its walking maps, and Boris bikes hubs are being restocked more frequently than usual.
Both sides in the dispute are not budging as PA reports:
The mayor made it clear no more money will be offered to resolve the row over pay and conditions, urging unions to put the latest “incredibly generous” offer to their members. Johnson also repeated his refusal to meet union leaders, and said he was “not fussed” about the new night service starting on time on 12 September.
The row escalated on Wednesday when the RMT union announced it will now ballot engineers working for Tube Lines for strikes over the same dispute, and Aslef accused London Underground (LU) of forcing through new staff rosters for the night tube without consultation.
The general secretary of the union Aslef, Mick Whelan, said: “Our members have rejected the latest offer from the company because they are forcing through new rosters without agreement and offer no firm commitments on work-life balance for train drivers.
“We support night tube. London needs it. We remain prepared to talk at any time to try to find common ground, but by forcing these new rosters on train drivers and acting outside of our agreed way of working, senior management are making it even harder to resolve this dispute. The Aslef executive committee meets next week and will discuss our response to these developments.”
The RMT leader, Mick Cash, said: “The offer tabled by London Underground is just a rehash of an earlier package and does nothing to tackle the fundamental issue of our members being called into work at the beck and call of management, to plug staffing gaps in the mayor’s botched night tube plans.
Updated
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