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UPDATE, June 21 The tube strike on Tuesday June 21 has gone ahead as planned with services on all Underground lines completely cancelled or massively disrupted. As announced the RMT union’s action was supported by a walkout of nearly 1,000 members of the Unite union as well. So it’s definitely a WFH situation.
This latest industrial action follows the threat from the RMT union to disrupt the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend celebration in the capital, before they backtracked (infrastructural gag) and rearranged the strike for the Monday following the bank holiday.
Here’s the lowdown:
What’s this strike all about, then?
There is an ongoing dispute between the RMT union, which represents most Tube staff, and TfL. The core issues are TfL’s proposal to lose hundreds of jobs at stations on the network and review its pension scheme.
Which tube lines will be affected?
Probably most, if not all, of them. The last walkout of 4,000 Underground staff brought the network to a halt, and this one is going to be more than twice as big.
What are the alternatives?
Well, not trains. There are even bigger train strikes (also called by the RMT) on June 21, 23 and 25, which will see most rail services in and out of the capital cancelled. So, buses, bikes and your feet. The former two were pretty hellish last time, so… it’s shank’s pony or shank’s WFH.
How likely is it that the strike will be called off before June 21?
Hard to say. The threatened Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend strike didn’t go ahead, but the one on Monday June 6 did, pretty comprehensively too, so in all likelihood, you should definitely make other arrangements for June 21. If you can, of course. The RMT has received a good deal of criticism for the fact that its ongoing strike action actually disproportionately affect blue-collar London workers with no option to work from home.
We’ll keep you posted.
The rail strikes in June: how they will affect commuters in London.
If you can get to them: great summer music festivals in London.