London Tube drivers to stage 24-hour strike on October 5

Commuters in London face another day of chaos next month after London Underground drivers voted to strike.  

Members of the Aslef union will walk out for 24 hours on October 5, threatening huge disruption for passengers and visitors to the capital.

The drivers voted by almost 9-1 to strike and a bigger margin for other forms of industrial action.

The dispute is over so-called ‘work-life balance’ plans the union say Transport for London have failed to deliver on.

Aslef say no details have been given over how staff will be able to reduce the number of shifts they work and reduce the percentage of weekend shifts they are given.

Transport for London says it has been trialing a four-day working week on the Jubilee line and is now studying the results.

Nigel Holness, TFL’s Director of Network Operations, said: ‘We are committed to ensuring that our employees are able to maintain a good balance between their work and personal lives and we have been working closely with the unions to explore new ways to achieve this. 

‘I encourage ASLEF to continue working ‎with us constructively‎ rather than moving towards unnecessary strike action.’ 

There were huge queues at bus stops and taxi ranks when the drivers went on strike in January

Finn Brennan, ASLEF’s organiser on London Underground, said: ‘As part of the settlement of the dispute over the introduction of Night Tube, LU agreed to introduce a mechanism to allow drivers to reduce the number of shifts they work, on a pro-rata basis, and ‘new ways of working’ to reduce the percentage of weekend shifts worked by July this year. 

‘They have repeatedly refused to make any detailed proposals to do so.

‘For more than 18 months management have prevaricated, stalled and delayed. Deadlines have repeatedly been missed and promises broken while our detailed proposals to resolve these issues have been ignored.

‘Our members’ patience has finally been exhausted and our executive committee has announced strike action.’