Crunch Talks Aim to Settle Tube Row
Tuesday, June 23, 2009 9:52
Crunch talks was held to resolve the bitter dispute that led to a crippling 48-hour strike by thousands of Tube workers. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union walked out for two days last week, causing disreputation to millions of commuters, and costing hard-pressed businesses in the capital an estimated £100m.
The RMT will sit down with Transport for London to hammer out a deal over the level of redundancies among Underground staff. Conciliation service Acas will oversee the talks at its headquarters in Euston.
Mayor Boris Johnson wants to avoid further action after the strike caused chaos across the capital with eight-mile tailbacks on amny roads into central London. Limited services ran on nine out of 11 Tube lines as some RMT members worked normally.
The union has not ruled out further strikes if the dispute is not resolved, and the sides were embroiled in a fresh row over safety-with the RMT criticising what it said were ‘potentially disastrous’ cuts to the Tube’s maintenance budget. Johnson said he would be happy to meet the RMT if it withdrew the threat of more walkouts. He told the London Assembly at Mayor’s Question Time that he’d be happy to sit down for a beer or other celebratory drink with RMT leaders. But he also labelled its 48-hour strike ‘irrational and wrong-headed’.
Related posts:
- Deadline Looms as Beer-tie Talks Stall
More than a dozen organizations in the beer industry met... - BA Talks Tough as Volunteers Train to Best Strike
Chief executive of British Airways—Willie Walsh, has issued a bold... - Shell in Active Talks with Arrow
Arrow Energy announced that it was in active talk with... - Marsh in Talks to Buy Part of HSBC’s Insurance Arm
One of the owld’s largest insurance brokers, Marsh & McLennan,... - BA in Merger Talks with Qantas
The prospect of consolidation in the airline sector has been...
