London Underground passengers face travel chaos from Sunday evening because of a strike by thousands of workers in a dispute over jobs and ticket office closures.
The company made a last-minute offer to try to avert a 24-hour walkout from 6pm by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union and the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA).
The TSSA said it would consider the offer before deciding today whether to call off the strike.
- Strike commences 18:00 Sunday evening
- Strike finishes at end of normal service times on Monday evening
- Majority of stations in Zone 1 will be closed
- Those that do open in Zone 1 are likely to open after 0700 and close by 1900 on Monday 9 January
- Other transport services, including buses, DLR and London Overground, are expected to be much busier than usual
- Where services are running, customers are advised to complete Tube journeys by 1800 on both Sunday and Monday
- Normal services expected to resume by the morning of Tuesday 10 January
- National Rail services will not be affected
But the RMT, which has many more members on the Tube, made it clear it was pressing ahead with the stoppage, reports the Press Association.
Transport for London (TfL) advised passengers that there will be a severely reduced service across the Tube network on Sunday evening and all day on Monday because of the strike.
The RMT delegation left a meeting at the conciliation service Acas before the new offer was made.
In a message to RMT members, regional organiser John Leach said the talks had “failed” and the strike will go ahead.
He said: “We saw LU face to face and reiterated our position on the key issues of the dispute.
“We demanded that they guarantee the staffing of all station control rooms.
“We demanded that the current offer of 150 additional jobs be significantly improved and guaranteed to not be lowered under any circumstances.
“LU’s response was to repeat their offer of yesterday.
“This is just not acceptable. The unsafe practices and pressure on staff and passengers have to be resisted and will be.”
An RMT spokesman told the Press Association that the hundreds of job cuts agreed by former London mayor Boris Johnson had been a “disaster” and should be reversed.
“The cuts have gone too far and it is the staff who are highlighting the impact on moving millions of people every day.”
The RMT said more than 800 jobs had been axed under the so-called Fit For The Future programme, adding that LU was only offering to reinstate 150.
Most of the 500 new jobs claimed by the company were to fill current vacancies and staff turnover, according to the union.
The RMT added that LU was refusing to reopen any of the closed ticket offices.
TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said: “London Underground have made us a new offer. We will now share its contents with our reps and seek their views.”