London Underground Workers Strike, Shutting Subway

[Joanne98]

June 10 (Bloomberg) -- London Underground workers began a 48-hour strike in a dispute over job security and pay, halting trains that carry 3 million people a day and causing severe traffic delays in parts of the capital.

About 10,000 members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers including drivers walked off their jobs at 6:59 p.m. local time yesterday, Transport for London said by telephone. The walkout may be the biggest since June 2004, when union members shut down all 12 of the railway’s lines.

Severe delays were experienced on the Marylebone Flyover eastbound between the A40 Westway junction and King’s Cross, BBC London reported. Most Underground services are suspended in part or in full as a result of the strike though a “good” service is operating on the Northern line, the transportation agency said.

Gates were closed at Underground stations, bus stops were crowded and many roads into the city were clogged as commuters used cars to travel to work.

The union opposes Mayor Boris Johnson’s plan to cut 1,000 positions at the city’s transportation agency. While negotiators were unable to craft an agreement on protecting union jobs, Transport for London said it is “ready for talks at any time.” A two-day walkout on the railway known as “the Tube” may cost the city’s businesses 100 million pounds ($162 million) in lost productivity, says the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Decision to Strike

“Despite us making progress on all issues today, the RMT leadership has decided to strike, rather than continue to talk beyond their own self-imposed deadline,” Peter Hendy, commissioner for transport, said in an e-mailed statement last night. The RMT should call off the strike and return to talks to resolve the issue, the agency said.

The agency has added 100 buses on its 700 routes, and is running marshaled, shared taxi services from London’s main railway terminals between 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

Overground rail operators also are accepting the Oyster pre-pay card used on the tube on all surface train journeys in Greater London. The agency’s Web site will offer regular, updated travel information.

The walkout occurred after 10 hours of negotiations June 8, and several hours of talks between a mediator, union General Secretary Bob Crow and Richard Parry, head of the London Underground, yesterday.

“The strike is on” a spokesman for Crow said in a telephone interview yesterday. While the RMT is “always available” for talks no further negotiations are currently scheduled, he said.

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