Tube Strike 'Irresponsible', Says Johnson

As the latest tube strike against job cuts gets underway, the London Mayor has lashed out against unions.

The 24-hour strike, which kicked off at 7pm Sunday night, caused chaos during this mornings rush-hour.

The Rail Maritime and Transport union and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association have now come under fire, with Mayor Boris Johnson describing the move as "irresponsible politically motivated nonsense".

Mr Johnson is due to make a speech today at the Conservative party conference in Birmingham, were he will address the unions and explain why Transport for London was planning to cut 800 mainly ticket office jobs.

Following calls from business leaders, he will also discuss how the laws on industrial action should be made tougher.

In today's Daily Telegraph, Mr Johnson said: "We need to take account of the fact that some ticket offices are now selling fewer than 10 tickets an hour. We need to liberate staff to get out on to the platforms and concourses where they can be of most use to the travelling public.

"We have come up with a way of doing this that keeps a ticket office at every station that currently possesses one, and, remarkably, given the colossal budgetary pressures we face, we are able to do this with no compulsory redundancies.

"There will be no loss of earnings, and I cannot stress enough that all stations will remain staffed at all times. This is the package which the RMT leadership now demands is taken off the table before talks can resume, while their political lackeys now pretend that I should invite Bob Crow in for beer and sandwiches in City Hall.

"That is absurd, outrageous and wrong. We cannot reward the bad behaviour of militants whose objectives are plainly nothing to do with the terms and conditions of their members, and everything to do with a political attack on the coalition government and, to a lesser extent, on City Hall."

General Secretary of the RMT, Bob Crow, called on the Mayor to stop his "posturing" and resume negotiations over the job cuts.

Two further strikes are planned for November if the dispute remains unresolved.

(BMcN)