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A 24 hour strike by Tube maintenance workers has been "solid" according to union reps. There are severe delays to the sub-surface lines, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City. The Metropolitan was suspended between Baker Street and Aldgate and the District line suspended between Putney Bridge and Wimbledon. This is despite comment by a London Underground spokesman said who said there had been "very little" disruption. He said the problems with the District line was a Network Rail fault where the track is shared. 750 tube maintenance workers walked out 0645 this morning in a row over new rosters and outsourcing - the strike will be followed by stoppages from the same time every Sunday from 14 February until the dispute is resolved. Bob Crow, leader of the Rail Maritime and Transport union which ordered the strike, said the industrial action was "100 per cent solid". He added: "Our members are rock solid in their support for this strike action and in their determination to defend their jobs and working conditions." Two weeks ago the same union announced similar 24-hour strikes by fleet maintenance staff working at Stratford’s Jubilee Line deport. That industrial action has been designed to cause maximum disruption to the network - passengers have been suffering weekend closures on the line for months. Phil Hufton, London Underground's chief maintenance officer has called the RMT’s leadership "ludicrous" they would "jeopardise the journeys of thousands of Londoners over this issue."
On today’s action a TfL spokesman said:
"Despite strike action by the RMT a good service is operating across the LU network this morning. Londoners will share our dismay at the RMT leadership's cynical attempt to jeopardise the Tube's operation to try to gain overtime pay for their members. We are planning to introduce a shift pattern covering seven days a week, to ensure planned engineering staff are always available. That staffing agreement already exists, but the RMT is trying to tear it up. The RMT leadership should end this action."
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