Millions of Londoners brace for transit disruption as London Underground strike begins

LONDON – A five-day strike on the London Underground system began on Sept 7, threatening to upend millions of commuters’ journeys and disrupt life in Britain’s capital for most of the week, as workers protest over pay and conditions.

Transport for London, the city’s transit authority, warned that “little or no service” was expected across the Underground network, known as the Tube, from Sept 8 to Sept 11 and said that services would be limited on Sept 14.

Up to five million passenger journeys take place each weekday on London’s Underground, which has 272 stations and 11 lines that criss-cross the city and its surrounding suburbs.

Members of Britain’s National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers in August announced plans to strike, with different categories of workers taking action on a rolling basis, citing fatigue, “extreme shift patterns” and pay.

“The strikes come after management refused to engage seriously with union demands on pay, fatigue management, extreme shift patterns and a reduction in the working week, as well as failing to honour previous agreements made with staff,” the union said in a statement.

Transport for London said that it was “working hard to resolve the dispute” and urged the union to suspend the strike action, saying it was offering a 3.4 per cent pay increase to all London Underground employees.

The union said in a statement on Sept 7 that the primary sticking point in talks was its demand for a reduction of the hours in members’ work weeks.

Both sides said they remained open for negotiations.

Other transportation services in the city, including the Elizabeth line, which runs from east to west London, and the London Overground will be running, but Transport for London said that they “may operate differently”.

People who need to travel in the capital should consider walking or cycling, the transit agency said, noting that roads and other transport services such as buses were likely to be “extremely busy and subject to delay”.

A strike was also expected to close the Docklands Light Railway, in east and south-east London, on Sept 2 and Sept 4, the transit authority said.

There will be no service on the Underground before 8am (3pm Singapore time) on Sept 12, but services are expected to return to normal on all lines by late morning on Sept 12. NYTIMES