Crisis talks to avert 24-hour strike by London Underground staff will be held tomorrow ahead of planned action
CRISIS talks to avoid a 24-hour strike by London Underground staff will be held on Saturday in a last-ditch attempt to avert travel misery.
Millions of commuters face rail chaos from Sunday night as the RMT union confirmed its workers would go ahead with a Tube strike.
Talks over staffing and ticket office closures collapsed today but the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) announced further talks for tomorrow.
Tube passengers have been warned to expect a “severely reduced service” when most Zone 1 stations shut from 6pm on Sunday.
As up to 4,000 station and ticket staff prepare to walk out, commuters will have no Underground connections from the city's key overground interchange stations including Victoria, King’s Cross, Waterloo, Paddington, Euston, Bank and London Bridge.
There had been hopes that resolution talks on Friday between the TSSA/RMT unions and LU bosses ended would end in the strike being cancelled.
But RMT leader Mick Cash said this afternoon the talks had collapsed and the industrial action will go ahead on Sunday.
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He said: "Despite huge efforts by the union negotiating team, London Underground have failed to come up with any serious plans to tackle the staffing and safety crisis caused by the axing of nearly 900 safety-critical station jobs.
"Instead of resolving the issues, Tube bosses have chosen instead to ramp up the rhetoric with threats to mobilise a strike-breaking army of 'ambassadors' with severe consequences for the current safety regime across the Tube network.
"As a result of the management failure to face up to the current crisis, the talks have collapsed and all industrial actions remains on.
"It is up to London Underground to take full responsibility for this situation and to come back to us with a serious set of proposals."
Piccadilly line services will still run between Hammersmith and Heathrow Terminals 1, 2 and 3.
But services to Terminals 4 or 5 will be cancelled.
Steve Griffiths, London Underground's chief operating officer, said: "We have always committed to reviewing our new staffing model with our trade unions during its first year, and following the review by London TravelWatch we established a joint working group to undertake that review and make any changes necessary.
"It is clear that some more staff for stations are needed. We have started to recruit them and will continue to work with the unions to implement the recommendations made in the review.
We encourage the trade unions to continue working with us in order to resolve this dispute and deliver the customer service our customers expect.
Steve Griffiths
"We believe that this will help us to provide a better service for our customers and ensure that they continue to feel safe, secure and able to access the right help while using our network.
"We encourage the trade unions to continue working with us in order to resolve this dispute and deliver the customer service our customers expect."
The walkout and impending threat of more industrial action is in protest at 800 jobs cuts and ticket office closures under former mayor Boris Johnson’s regime.
For the latest on the impending strike action, click here.
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