Tube drivers vote for October strike action

LONDON Tube drivers have voted in favour of a 24-hour strike following a dispute over working conditions.

On September 18, train drivers union ASLEF announced that 88% of its London Underground (LU) members voted for industrial action.

The 24-hour walk out on October 5 could cause huge disruption for passengers and visitors to the capital.

The drivers strike comes after LU’s alleged failure to introduce the new shift patterns it promised drivers following the introduction of the Night Tube. Finn Brennan, ASLEF’s organiser on London Underground, said: “ASLEF members have voted by an 88% margin to take strike action in our dispute over the failure of LU to deliver on the commitments they made to improve work life balance as part of the 2015 pay settlement.

“As part of the settlement of the dispute over the introduction of Night Tube, LU agreed to introduce a mechanism to allow drivers to reduce the number of shifts they work, on a prorata basis, and “new ways of working” to reduce the percentage of weekend shifts worked by July this year.

“They have repeatedly refused to make any detailed proposals to do so.

“For more than 18 months manage- ment have prevaricated, stalled and delayed. Deadlines have repeatedly been missed and promises broken while our detailed proposals to resolve these issues have been ignored.

“Our members’ patience has finally been exhausted and our executive committee has announced strike action.

“As always, we are ready to meet at any time to try to find a solution, but it is long past time that LU management started to act to resolve this long running dispute.”

Nigel Holness, LU’s director of network operations, said: “We are committed to ensuring that our employees are able to maintain a good balance between their work and personal lives, and we have been working closely with the unions to explore new ways to achieve this. I encourage Aslef to continue working with us constructively rather than moving towards unnecessary strike action.”