Sadiq Khan humiliated after ‘no strikes’ pledge: London tube staff walk out again tomorrow

London Underground strikes: Liverpool Street tube shut

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Tomorrow Transport for London workers will walk out in their 52nd day of industrial action since Mr Khan was first elected to City Hall. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will strike for 24 hours in a deadlocked dispute over jobs, pensions and conditions.

It is the second day in a week action has been taken, with a stoppage on Tuesday leading to the Tube being suspended during the rush hour, with only a few services running later in the day.

Disruption continued on this morning, with a knock-on impact on services expected on Friday as well.

In contrast to Mr Khan’s record over the past five and a half years, Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone, oversaw 51 stokes between them over a 16 year period.

The damning record comes despite the incumbent promising an end to strike action when he was first seeking election in 2016.

He described walkouts as “a sign of failure” as he pledged to Londoners to keep tube services on track.

Mr Khan said at the time: “Strikes are ultimately a sign of failure.

“Every day there’s a strike, it causes huge misery and inconvenience to Londoners.

“As mayor, what I’d do is roll up my sleeves and make sure that I’m talking to everyone who runs public transport to make sure there are zero days of strikes.”

The RMT fears that spending cuts linked to a funding deal by the Government will lead to hundreds of job losses, reduced pensions and worse working conditions.

TfL has advised people to work from home if they can on Thursday, saying there are likely to be no Tube services.

DON’T MISS:
Council leader says she’ll ‘ram’ pans for homes down people’s throats [REACTION]
Galloway launches scathing attack on Starmer over Brexit failures [UPDATE]
The mask slips! Sir Keir Starmer’s demand for UK to quit Nato exposed [INSIGHT]

Andy Lord, TfL’s chief operating officer, said: “I would ask anyone who needs to use the Tube on Thursday to check before they make their journey, consider whether they are able to work from home and use alternative modes of transport where possible.

“It’s highly unlikely there will be an Underground service running during the strike action and, if any service is provided, it will not continue into the evening.

“Services will also be severely impacted until mid-morning on Friday March 4 because of a number of factors including the placement of drivers and trains following a day without service.

“I apologise to customers for this and understand they will be frustrated by this strike action, but urge them not to take it out on those who are trying to help.

“We haven’t proposed any changes to pensions or terms and conditions, and nobody has lost or will lose their jobs because of the proposals we have set out, so this action is completely unnecessary.

“We know our customers deserve better than this continued disruption and that is why we’re urging the RMT to talk to us so we can find a resolution to this dispute which has already damaged London’s recovery from the pandemic.”

Slamming Mr Khan’s record on tube strikes, Conservative MP Steve Baker told The Telegraph: “Let’s not kid ourselves that working from home is cost-free. It puts our own heating bills up at a time when we can ill afford it, and it has an impact on those businesses that support our workplaces.

“Sadiq Khan is in a fool’s paradise if he thinks working from home is the solution to his failure to handle Tube strikes.”

Source: Read Full Article