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News Desk
Mayor Boris Johnson has reacted angrily to the decision by the RMT and TSSA to strike on Sunday evening/ Monday via Twitter with "can't believe the rail unions". Tube travel on Monday will be hit following a decision by the RMT and TSSA trade unions to go on strike, the fourth strike since September to be organised over job cuts and working conditions.
The strike will begin on Sunday evening added with "extreme weather" conditions in the form of heavy snow to hit London, travel in the capital will be severely hampered.
"If they are serious about resolving this issue, they should call off their totally unnecessary strike immediately," London Underground's (LU) Chief Operating Officer Howard Collins said in a statement. Transport for London (TfL), which runs the network, said its offer of a further six weeks of talks to review staffing plans and safety concerns, was turned down by the unions. Talks have been going on for six months.
The RMT union rejected the proposal by London Underground proposing to suspend action for 12 weeks in return for a 12-week halt to the cuts for the safety review.
"This strike is about safety and we will be taking that message to passengers as we build the campaign against the tube cuts," RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said in a statement.
City Hall has stated that more than half the 800 proposed job reductions had been achieved through voluntary redundancy and not filling vacant posts, and would not impact safety.
There are 3 million daily passengers on the London Underground and each day of strikes costs the London economy of £40-£50 million in lost productivity.
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