London tube strikes called off at last minute

Planned strikes by drivers on the London Underground this week have been called off, the RMT union has announced.The union said that the two 24-hour stoppages from midday on Tuesday, which were set to disrupt travel over four days this week, had been suspended.An RMT union spokesperson said: “At the 11th hour the employer has shifted its position, allowing us to further explore our members’ concerns around the imposition of new rosters, fatigue and safety issues.“The dispute is not over, and more strike action will follow if we fail to make sufficient progress.”Strikes had been also scheduled for 16 and 18 June, which have now been changed to Tuesday 2 June and Thursday 4 June, should the differences over a planned four-day week not be resolved.Transport for London (TfL) has said that its proposals for a four-day week would be trialled on a voluntary basis. The rival union Aslef, which represents a slight majority of tube drivers, has endorsed the TfL proposal.Nick Dent, the director of customer operations for London Underground, said: “We are pleased that RMT has withdrawn its planned industrial action this week. This is good news for London.“Our proposal for a voluntary four-day week is designed to improve both work-life balance for drivers and the reliability of service for customers. We look forward to further discussions on the implementation of these proposals with all of our trade unions.”TfL had told customers to plan ahead and expect significant disruption during the strikes, with severely curtailed tube train services over four days, and no trains at all running on many lines. The planned action would have followed a similar wave of strikes in April.However, as revealed in the Guardian on Friday, the union put out feelers for a resolution to avoid a further round of strikes. The industrial action had little public sympathy and mystified Aslef, which felt the four-day week proposal was a significant improvement.A memo from Aslef’s London organiser to tube drivers described the introduction of the four-day week as “the biggest improvement in working conditions for underground train drivers in decades”.A letter from TfL to the RMT that confirmed the proposals would remain voluntary appears to have given the union leeway to call off strikes and continue talks for now.