London Underground drivers are striking at weekends.
(Picture: PA Wire)Night Tube strikes are going to hit the London economy, hospitality chiefs have warned.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union on the Central and Victoria lines are striking for eight hours on Friday and Saturday evenings.
The walkout by London Underground drivers is threatening to derail the capital’s economic recovery following the pandemic, experts have claimed.
The industrial action has taken place every weekend since January 7 and staff are pledging to continue doing so for another four months.
The union have claimed there is a “deafening silence” from London Underground bosses over the dispute about shift patterns but Transport for London have maintained they have been open to talks.
Seeing it from the other side, pub and club bosses have issued a stark warning about the strikes causing threats to other industries in the capital.
UK Hospitality Chief Executive Kate Nicholls told MailOnline: “A strike would jeopardise hospitality businesses, jobs, livelihoods and peoples’ safety. The Tube is crucial for safely transporting staff and customers - often women and vulnerable people late at night - to and from venues.
“Hospitality has suffered two disastrous years of closure and devastatingly low levels of trade, but will now be key to London’s recovery. The last thing the capital needs is new setbacks like this.”
Michael Kill, CEO of Night Time Industries Association, told the newspaper: “We have fought extremely hard to re-establish the night tube service last year, but now further disruption through long term strike action is likely to have a devastating impact on the night time economy which is a fundamental part of the Capitals infrastructure.”
He added this was taking place against the backdrop of night time economy businesses facing an “extremely challenging” start to 2022.
Drivers have been walking out in their latest strike since January 7 amid arguments over rosters for the Night Tube.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “We are calling on Tube bosses to end their deafening silence and take up the opportunity of resuming negotiations with the aim of resolving the Night Tube dispute.
“The action continues tonight despite the fact that we believe there are simple and cost-free options that would enable us to consider suspending the action. We cannot make any progress if LU continue to give us the cold shoulder.
“With London heading back towards some normality at last, the settlement of this dispute should be a priority for the mayor and his officials and that means showing a willingness to recommence the talks process.
“The issue at the heart of the dispute, protecting the work/life balance of drivers, cannot be swept under the carpet and needs to be addressed rather than dismissed. RMT stands ready to get talks back on.”
A TfL spokesman said: “We remain open to talks with the RMT, in the hope this long-running strike action can be called off.
“During the six months of regular (conciliation service) Acas talks on this matter, it’s become clear that there are no new or workable proposals. However we remain in touch with both the RMT and Acas in the hope that a resolution can be found.
“Our position remains that since changes to our rosters, which have been agreed with our other union, were implemented, they’ve been a positive change for the organisation and our staff, helping us to keep London moving, become a fairer place to work and bringing back Night Tube.
“Despite the strike action, we’re running a good Night Tube service on the Victoria Line and a regular service on the Central Line, with at least two trains per hour through central London.
“We’ve made changes to driver rosters to preserve a near-normal Tube service while also giving drivers the opportunity for full-time work, new flexible part-time work and long-term job certainty.
“There are no job losses, and those few who want to remain on the previous rosters have been able to do so as a result of the changes made, and we have assured Tube drivers that night shifts usually can be swapped with colleagues for duties at other times of day.”
