Tube workers walk out in jobs strike

London Underground workers have started a fresh wave of 24-hour strikes, threatening travel chaos for days and costing the economy almost £50 million.

Thousands of members of the Rail Maritime and Transport union and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association walked out at 5 p.m., with another wave at 9 p.m., in protest at plans to axe 800 jobs.

The action, to be followed by further stoppages in October and November, will disrupt Tube services, used by millions of passengers every day.

Mayor Boris Johnson criticised the industrial action as a “trumped-up and politically motivated” attempt to attack the coalition government.

The strikes followed a 24-hour stoppage from 7 p.m. on Sunday by up to 200 maintenance staff at depots on the Jubilee and Northern lines in a separate row over pay and conditions, which the RMT said was “solidly” supported.

The RMT highlighted three recent incidents – fire scares at Euston and Oxford Circus and the arrest of a man with a sword and two loaded guns – as reasons for maintaining staffing numbers.

Mr Johnson said new staffing proposals were “moderate and sensible” and accused the unions of “cynically deciding to try the patience” of commuters.

Howard Collins, LU’s chief operating officer, said: “London Underground needs to change, as we can’t go on with a situation where some ticket offices sell fewer than 10 tickets an hour. But our staffing changes mean that every station that currently has a ticket office will retain one, and that all stations will be staffed at all times.”

Some central London hotels were booked up as firms offered overnight accommodation to their staff, with one hotel manager saying inquiries had been “crazy” in recent days.

Contingency plans have been put in place for dealing with the strikes, with 100 extra buses, escorted bike rides, marshalled taxi ranks and capacity for 10,000 more journeys on the River Thames.