RMT suspend strikes planned for next Monday
Further disruption on the underground has been avoided after the RMT decided not to proceed with industrial action threatened for next Monday.
The RMT had said they would not suspend strikes until they knew the outcome of Wednesday's pension trustees' board meeting and consultation with the union's reps on Friday (7th September).
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said, "Our reps are happy that they now have a full pension scheme rescue in place and that the issues of job losses have been resolved."
He said the RMT was planning to seek further talks with Metronet and the administrator over job transfers. However, they are saying that the strikes are suspended rather than called off thereby not ruling out the possibility of further action.
The RMT suspended its first planned industrial action late on Tuesday evening after talks with the tube's management.
Tube management say reassurances tabled at the meeting about jobs and pensions were exactly the same as those given earlier to the other unions involved, TSSA and Unite. On this basis they agreed to cancel their strikes but the RMT had proceeded with industrial action bringing most of the network to a halt.
Reportedly RMT leader initially refused to attend the meeting saying he was 'too busy' but Tube boss Tim O'Toole said that it was impossible to proceed with discussions unless he was present. He finally did arrive at the talks an hour and a half late but did not enter the meeting, rather he chose to hold discussions with his negotiators outside.
Bob Crow said, "The dispute has underlined the need to bring the maintenance of London Underground back into the public sector, and that is what our members and the vast majority of Londoners want,"
A spokesman for Transport for London said, "We regret that Londoners had to endure two days of totally unnecessary disruption this week,"
September 7, 2007