Millions of commuters jammed buses, rented bicycles or simply walked for miles to and from work as a 24-hour strike shut down the British capital’s famed subway system and threw public transport into chaos.
Advertisement
“We will be ready to return to the negotiating table on Friday morning to ensure that further action can be avoided”.
“There are plenty of industries which have to work nights and London is a 24/7 city”, said Mark Crosby, waiting for a bus at Epping station in north-east London.
The traveller tweeted: “Absolute carnage on 113 bus”.
‘We are always prepared to talk, but they have to start listening to this very clear message from their staff.
London Underground has said it has hired extra night drivers, offered a fair pay deal and said most staff would be unaffected by the changes.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), Aslef, Transport Salaried Staffs Association and Unite have been in dispute over pay being offered for the new service, due to start at weekends from mid-September, as well as rosters.
“That means an end to the attempt to bulldoze through new working patterns that would wreck work/life balance and leave staff in safety critical jobs burnt out and stressed out at a time when Tube services are facing unprecedented demand”.
“We’ve wasted three months in negotiations that failed to address staff concerns”, said the RMT union’s general secretary Mick Cash.
TSSA leader Manuel Cortes has called for talks at the conciliation services ACAS on Friday.
He said: “These things are only sorted out around a table, – not by inflicting misery on hard-working Londoners”.
“If London comes to a halt this week, the people who should be blamed are not those who work hard to keep it moving all year round”, he wrrote. And it’s largely because Transport for London is intending to launch a “Night Tube” service in September that Mayor Boris Johnson argues would bring millions to the local economy.
He said: “Obviously I very much apologise for all the delay, all the destruction. I urge the strikers to accept the good offer that employers have made and get back to work”. Allow more time for your journey.
“We have got to get on with the night Tube”.
“Unfortunately what has happened is that the union leadership has basically been spoiling for a big fight on this”.
“When you’re living in London that long, you just have to learn to live with it”, said Thumwood, a native of the English capital. The workers have been offered “honest” and “fair” pay for the work hours, hopefully they can come to an agreement shortly.
As a result of the London Underground tube strike, streets throughout the city have witnessed seas of hustling Londoners seeking any alternate route to their destinations.
Advertisement
“The numbers using London Underground late at night have nearly doubled over the last decade, and because of recent sustained investment in modernising your Tube network we can run overnight on Fridays and Saturdays on five lines from later this year”.
