Tube strike: Piccadilly Line drivers to hold three 24-hour walkouts – starting before Easter
RMT said there has been a ‘comprehensive breakdown’ in industrial relations for its 400 members on the line that serves Heathrow Airport
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Your support makes all the difference.Three 24-hour strikes are expected to be held by drivers on London Underground’s Piccadilly line in the space of a month, with the first set to be held before Easter.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said there had been a “comprehensive breakdown” in industrial relations involving its 400 members on the Tube line, which services Heathrow.
The first of the three strikes will be held ahead of Easter weekend, with the walkout set to begin at 9pm on Wednesday 23 March. The further two strikes will both start at 12 noon on 19 April and 21 April.
The union claims its members have been subjected to a campaign of “bullying, harassment and intimidation” that is will not allow to continue, while London Underground has accused RMT of threatening “unnecessary” strike action without attempting to resolve the issue.
RMT claimed its drivers on the Piccadilly line had also been subject to a prolonged period of industrial problems on the line, which had left workers in a “vulnerable” position.
More than four out of five RMT members have voted for strike action.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "The wholesale abuse of procedures and agreements by management on the Piccadilly Line is rife and amounts to the development of a campaign of bullying, harassment and intimidation that the union will not allow to continue.
"RMT will not sit back and allow individual members to be picked off by a vindictive and aggressive management who are continuing to drag their heels over addressing fundamental safety issues which leave staff in a vulnerable and exposed position.
"The combined weight of these abuses and failures has built up to a comprehensive and fundamental collapse in industrial relations that the company have done nothing to address and which has now left RMT with no option but to call strike action following the overwhelming vote of by our members."
London Underground operations director Pat Hansberry said: "It is disappointing that the RMT is once again threatening unnecessary strike action without seeking to resolve these local issues with us first.
"We urge the RMT to continue talks with us to resolve their issues rather than threatening to subject Londoners to another pointless strike."
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