London Underground drivers have announced a strike that will disrupt the capital's underground service throughout the Easter holidays.
London Underground Train Drivers Announce New Strikes
Members of Aslef, the train drivers' union, have announced an industrial action on April 8 and May 4, 2024, as the majority of its drivers voted in favour of the action.
Finn Brennan, the union representative, stated on Wednesday: “Aslef Tube train drivers will strike in April and May in a long-running dispute over London Underground’s failure to give assurances that changes to our members’ terms and conditions will not be imposed without agreement and that all existing agreements will be honoured.
“Despite a previous commitment to withdraw plans for massive changes to drivers’ working conditions, London Underground management has established a full-time team of managers preparing to impose their plans.
“They want drivers to work longer shifts, spending up to 25 percent more time in the cab, and to remove all current working agreements in the name of ‘flexibility and efficiency’.”
April Rail Strikes: Dates, Affected Lines, and Union Demands
The rolling strike schedule for the beginning of April will be outlined below:
- Friday, April 5: Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, West Midlands Trains, and CrossCountry
- Saturday, April 6: Chiltern, GWR, LNER, Northern, and TransPennine
- Monday, April 8: c2c, Greater Anglia, GTR Great Northern Thameslink, Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, South Western Railway main line and depot drivers, and SWR Island Line.
Members will also oppose working on their days off from Thursday, April 4 to Saturday, April 6, and Monday, April 8 to Tuesday, April 9.
The upcoming Aslef strike comes two and a half months after Sadiq Khan opted to spend £30 million of taxpayer money to avert a week of walkouts by the RMT union, which represents approximately 10,000 Tube workers.
The RMT walk-outs would have essentially closed the Underground for four days as employees requested a 12% pay increase.
But in an unprecedented move, the mayor decided to utilize undisclosed City Hall cash to facilitate compensation discussions.
The decision caused Aslef, which had previously agreed to accept a 5% raise, to demand extra cash.
The union declared the mayor “had found the magic money tree and our members expect to share the fruit”.
These mark the second and third days of action on this particular matter. Last March, a one-day strike caused practically the whole Tube network to be closed.
The Elizabeth Line train drivers are exempt from the strike since they are governed by a different agreement. Services on London Overground and the Docklands Light Railway are expected to operate normally, albeit with increased crowding.