Tube talks go up to the wire as strike looms
UNIONS and transport officials will meet today as they try to ward off a second week of strike action on the London Underground.
Both sides left the resolution service Acas on Friday night without a deal but pledged to “consider their positions” over the weekend.
The RMT and TSSA unions are due to walk out at 9pm tomorrow in a fresh 48-hour strike.
The unions are protesting Transport for London’s plans to close all ticket offices and axe a net 750 jobs on the Tube. TfL has said it intends to reform its services without compulsory redundancies.
Emily Thornberry, the Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, said yesterday the strikes were “most ridiculous bit of willy-waving I’ve ever seen. It’s macho nonsense”.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson, who appeared alongside her on the BBC’s Sunday Politics, said that his team “have engaged with the unions at every stage”.
Around a quarter of Tube stations were forced to close during last week’s industrial action, though TfL said 90 per cent of regular Oyster customers used public transport during the strikes.