London Tube strikes postponed until September

Commuters around the capital will have been glad to hear the news that the two London Underground strikes were postponed to avoid travel chaos over the Bank Holiday weekend period – but now new dates for industrial action have been announced.

This week, rail staff were due to walk out for 24hrs on both Tuesday and Thursday evenings, which would have caused widespread disruption through the week. Aslef, the drivers union, one of the four unions implicated, had already decided not to take part in the walk-out. However, following ongoing talks to try and rectify the situation, the RMT, Unite and TSSA also all decided to suspend the action.

Mick Cash, the General Secretary at the RMT promised that talks would continue, saying “Our negotiators have been able to make enough significant progress in talks at Acas over pay, jobs and night tube to allow us to suspend this week’s strike dates. We have still not reached a final agreement and as a result we are putting on additional strike action on next month. In the meantime, the talks process will continue.”.

The new dates proposed for industrial action are the 8th and 10th of September, and each for a 24hr period.

The unions and Transport for London (TfL) are still trying to find a resolution over the upcoming Night Tube service, which will see staff’s working patterns change as the new service is introduced. The overnight service is due to begin on the 12th September, but there is now doubt that this deadline will be met.

Of course, waiting to see if strikes will or won’t happen can cast doubt over travel plans, and you may prefer to make alternative arrangements and not run the risk. You can check people going your way on Liftshare.com and book or offer a lift to avoid the disruption on public transport!