London - Londoners braced themselves for the latest in a series of 24-hour underground rail strikes due to begin on Tuesday evening, as London Underground and workers continue their fight over planned job cuts.
The strike will be the third walkout since the beginning of September, in protest over London Underground plans to cut 800 jobs through the reduction of station staffing and opening hours at some ticket offices.
The Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) and white-collar Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) said more than 11 000 of their members will stop working on Tuesday evening, with engineering staff to walk off the job at 19h00 GMT and operational staff not taking up shifts scheduled from 21h00 GMT.
An RMT spokesperson said that talks have been ongoing with London Underground but that no significant progress has been made. RMT wants the job cuts off the negotiating table.
London Underground said in a statement on Monday the staffing changes would have no impact on the network's safety standards. It said there would be no compulsory redundancies, every station that currently had a ticket office would continue to have one and stations would continue to be staffed.
London Underground said on its website it expected to operate all its lines except the Circle line, although it warned service might be halted on sections of the other lines as well.
Underground workers also staged 24-hour walkouts September 7-8 and October 4-5. The last one is due to start the evening of November 28. - Reuters