Another Tube strike is being planned for London in a dispute over Boxing Day pay, meaning we can all expect more Tube disruption towards the end of the month.
London Underground (LU) drivers will mount industrial action over claims that they are expected to work for normal pay on Boxing Day.
An official from Aslef (the main Tube drivers’ union) said: “To claim that Boxing Day is an ordinary working day is an almost unbelievable denial of an obvious fact. They are living on another planet if they think Aslef members will accept this piece of fiction.”
Aslef now plans to ballot its members for strike action.
Transport for London (TfL) blames Aslef for the row and claims the union “refused to attend talks at ACAS to discuss its claim”.
“LU [London Underground] has made every effort to resolve this issue with the ASLEF leadership,” said a TfL spokesperson.
However, the Tube drivers’ union said it had argued the case taht Boxing Day not be treated as a “normal day” at a number of meetings with LU, without success.
“As well as insulting our intelligence by the bizarre claim that Boxing Day is nothing special, London Underground has unilaterally torn up existing agreements,” said the Aslef official.
“It used to be almost guaranteed that if you worked one bank holiday, you would not work the next. But the increase in service levels has meant this is now no longer possible.
“We are not opposed to additional services for customers, but we believe that there are times when staff need to be appropriately compensated for working at highly unsocial times – and that includes Boxing Day.
“If they get away with this, next year they’ll be telling us Christmas Day is a normal day as well.”