Millions hit by Tube staff strike
Millions of commuters are facing travel chaos on Tuesday after London Underground workers began a fresh wave of 24-hour strikes - a move that will cost the economy almost £50 million.
Thousands of members of the Rail Maritime and Transport union and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association walked out at 5pm on Monday, with another wave at 9pm, in protest at plans to axe 800 jobs.
The action, to be followed by further stoppages in October and November, will disrupt Tube services, used by millions of passengers every day.
London Mayor Boris Johnson criticised the industrial action as a "trumped-up and politically motivated" attempt to attack the coalition Government.
The strikes followed a 24-hour stoppage from 7pm on Sunday night by up to 200 maintenance staff at depots on the Jubilee and Northern lines in a separate row over pay and conditions, which the RMT said was "solidly" supported.
The RMT highlighted three recent incidents - fire scares at Euston and Oxford Circus and the arrest of a man with a sword and two loaded guns - as reasons for maintaining staffing numbers.
General secretary Bob Crow, who will join a picket line at Euston this morning, said: "We have laid out the clearest possible evidence to the mayor and his officials that if he breaks his promises and slashes station staffing numbers he will be giving the green light to disaster, and yet he is failing to take any account of the hard facts of these three recent incidents - each of which could have had lethal consequences.
"Boris Johnson opposed these very cuts before he was elected and now stands accused of rank political opportunism as his officials take the axe to safety standards right across the Tube network with the prospect of worse to come this autumn. That's what RMT and TSSA are striking over - the whole future of a safe Tube system is now on the block."
Mr Johnson said new staffing proposals were "moderate and sensible" and accused the unions of "cynically deciding to try the patience" of commuters.
"They will undoubtedly succeed in causing disruption to Tube services," the mayor wrote in Monday's London Evening Standard.
