Tube strike chaos cripples London for THIRD day in row

Commuters raged at TfL over a lack of buses this morning as thousands face another nightmare journey to work in a third day of disruption on the tube.

Around 10,000 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) have again walked out for 24 hours today in a row over jobs, pensions and conditions.

Almost all London Underground lines were completely suspended as of around 7am on Thursday morning, with only the Central line running a partial service. The Docklands Light Railway was also part-suspended and the London Overground was operating a reduced service, according to Transport for London’s website.

 In a blow to fed-up travellers, it emerged yesterday that there had been no last-minute talks between TfL or the RMT to delay the walkout, LondonWorld reported.

Frustrated commuters again took to social media to tell of their woe, with one writing: ‘Without tubes, it’s currently taking me over 2 hours to get to work. This tube strike is wrecking me.’

Another said: ‘Effectively day 3 of a what in reality is a 4 day TFL tube strike. Another 30 minutes each way on my commute in order to leave home at 5.30am for a 14 hour shift. Thank god it’s not raining for once. @tfl’

A third added: ‘Another train into London Victoria. The only people the tube strikers hurt are people like me trying to earn a decent living #tubestrike @TfL’

It comes as it was revealed last night that driverless trains could be introduced on the Underground as part of plans by ministers to break the power of the militant RMT union.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has made driverless technology a condition of talks on a bailout for Transport for London (TfL), which wants a long-term settlement to shore up finances ravaged by the pandemic. 

Yesterday, the RMT threatened more strikes and said there could be ‘a massive shutdown over the summer’ if TfL tries to change the terms of staff pensions.

Sadiq Khan, London’s Labour Mayor, has responsibility for TfL, but a Government source said Mr Shapps was determined to begin the shift to driverless technology.

‘Industrial action or no industrial action, there is a strategic case for moving forward on driverless trains,’ the source said. 

‘They are already a reality – the London Docklands Light Railway has been automated since its birth 35 years ago – but there is a deep-seated cultural resistance to the concept at TfL. 

‘It cannot be right that commuters are held to ransom and the economy of London harmed, merely at the whim of union bosses.’

The Transport Secretary has now warned Mr Khan he must begin ‘scoping work’ on driverless trains if he wants more bailouts.

Workers yesterday had to brave the rain and cram onto buses and into overpriced taxis after underground services were almost entirely closed during peak hours, even though official action is only scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday this week. 

The TfL website just after 7am showed all lines were either suspended, part-suspended or running with a reduced service or minor delays, with the exception of the Victoria and Central lines, as well as TfL rail. 

And commuters were still left to battle lengthy queues and disrupted travel by 5pm on Tuesday – more than 18 hours after Tuesday’s industrial action ended – as there were still five lines running reduced services.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union, which has organised the action over fears that TfL spending cuts will lead to spiralling job losses, blamed the chaos on ‘operational issues’. 

There has been widespread fury at the timing of the strike – in the first full week since the end of all remaining Covid restrictions, with workers returning to the office in their droves – which sparked the worst traffic in the capital in three years. 

Tory former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith told MailOnline: ‘I’m appalled that they should choose the midst of a serious crisis to go on strike rendering it very difficult for civil servants to get in to make these important decisions, and causing mayhem among businesses just trying to recover from lockdown.’

The MP added that it should encourage the government to automate Tube trains – pointing out that was already the case on other lines.

‘All this does is show how unreliable the unions are and they will be accelerating their demise’, he said.

‘They will have accelerated the day we move to automation.’

Sir Iain also called for the minutes of RMT meetings in the run-up to the strikes to be released in full to be transparent about timings and motivations.

‘If it is the case some people (in the RMT) have sympathies for Putin and his ghastly regime that should be called out. To that end it would be great to have the minutes of any meeting they had prior to this published.’ 

It comes as it was revealed that the average wage of a full-time Tube driver exceeded £56,000, based on the latest data from between April 2019 and March 2020. 

That’s compared to the average wage of other key workers in the capital, such as nurses (£33,384), police constables (£36,489) and teachers (£38,003). 

The strikes also drew the ire of business chiefs in the capital, with one economist estimating the cost to London’s economy for each full day’s closure of the network to be around £50million.

The RMT said its members were ‘solidly supporting’ the industrial action, which has added as much as two hours to the length of the commute for many this week. 

The union fears that spending cuts will lead to hundreds of job losses and reductions in pensions and working conditions.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: ‘Sadiq Khan should be standing up to Tory ministers who want to needlessly attack jobs, pensions and conditions of key transport workers. It is this political failure that has left Tube workers with no choice but to strike this week.

‘Our members have been left paying the price for a turf war between City Hall and the Government, and they are not having it – as can be seen right across London today.

‘The mayor knows the plan to attack our members’ pensions and conditions is wrong and would leave our union no choice but to take industrial action.

‘However, only last week the mayor agreed to submit proposals to the Government that will result in detrimental changes to pensions.

‘The mayor has to decide if he is on the side of key workers who have kept London moving during the pandemic, or Tory ministers hellbent on punishing Tube workers.

‘This dispute can be solved if the Mayor meets the reasonable demands of his own workforce.’

TfL chief operating officer Andy Lord said: ‘We haven’t proposed any changes to pensions or terms and conditions, and nobody has or will lose their jobs because of the proposals we have set out, so this action is completely unnecessary.

‘We know our customers deserve better than this and that is why we’re urging the RMT to talk to us so we can find a resolution to this dispute and call off this action, which is threatening London’s recovery from the pandemic.’

The three fat cat union barons holding London to ransom: The RMT bosses raking in £328,000 in salaries and benefits (including a subsidised CAR)

Rail union bosses who have brought London‘s tube network to a standstill rake in a combined total of £327,427 in salary and benefits a year – including a car.

Around 10,000 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) have again walked out for 24 hours in a row over jobs, pensions and conditions.

But their bosses are unlikely to feel the pinch of having to shell out on expensive taxis felt by some Londoners today, thanks to their high pay and an RMT-subsidised car.

The most recent annual return for the trade union details the whopping wage slips and benefits received by the top three officers.

General Secretary Mick Lynch – who once sighed ‘All I want from life is a bit of socialism’ – collects a package worth some £124,886.

Lynch, who is the highest paid official, gets a £89,962 gross salary, Employers’ NI contributions of £11,590 and pension contributions of £23,334.

His Senior Assistant General Secretary Steve Hedley is on a £62,664 gross salary, with Employers’ NI contributions of £7,823 and pension contributions of £21,793 and a car benefit of £1,712 – giving him a £93,992 bundle.

And the final of the three is Eddie Dempsey, the RMT’s Assistant General Secretary.

Dempsey gets no car but is on a package worth £108,549. It breaks down to £78,282 of gross salary, Employers’ NI contributions of £9,978 with pension contributions of £20,289.

An RMT spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘The pay and benefits of RMT officials are decided on through our democratic structures and are ratified at the union’s Annual General Meeting in a wholly open and transparent process that every member has a right to comment on.

‘The employers National Insurance contributions should not be confused with earnings and the pension contributions are defined by the union’s pension scheme which all staff members belong to.’

Hedley was suspended by the RMT at the start of the pandemic after saying he would ‘throw a party’ if Boris Johnson died from coronavirus.

The union said it would investigate him and he was back at work by the end of the year. 

Dempsey posed for pictures with a far right Ukrainian separatist warlord Aleksander Mozgovny, in Ukraine.

He was slated after he wrote a glowing obituary to him when he was killed in 2015.  

The RMT – who has always defended officials’ salaries – has laid the blame for the strikes at the door of under-pressure Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

It said it had taken action because London Underground bosses refused to rule out job cuts and pension changes.

They cited Mr Khan telling Labour Party members last year: ‘Telling those people responsible for heroically keeping London moving throughout the pandemic that now is the time they need to pay more into their pension funds strikes me as neither fair nor reasonable. it is not their fault the pandemic struck and they have acted heroically.’ 

MPs joined the backlash over the strikes, with Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden tweeting: ‘When Sadiq Khan first ran for Mayor of London he promised ‘zero days of strikes’ on the tube.  Now we are entering yet another period of damaging strikes that threaten to bring London to a standstill. When you struggle to get to work today, remember: this is Sadiq Khan’s London.’ 

Andrew Bridgen told MailOnline many in the House of Commons were affected by the disruption. 

‘At a time of national emergency as we emerge from Covid-19 and face worldwide security issues, the tube strike is extremely damaging and self indulgent,’ he said.

‘The strikers should remember how much taxpayers money has been pumped into keeping the underground running during the recent pandemic.’

Tory MP Greg Smith said: ‘Billions in taxpayer bailout into TfL – and now despite ‘zero strike’ promises the Labour Mayor can’t even keep the tube open. My constituents who commute into London – and our nation’s capital more widely – deserve better.’ 

His colleague Greg Hands called it ‘a disgrace and an insult to hard-working Londoners who have sacrificed so much the last 2 years.’