Crow calls for strike summit with Mayor Boris (From Ealing Times)

Crow calls for strike summit with Mayor Boris

11:43am Thursday 17th June 2010 in

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A TRANSPORT union is demanding face-to-face talks with Boris Johnson over a looming London-wide Tube strike.

The Rail, Maritime, and Transport Union is calling on the Mayor of London to enter discussions to avoid the “severe consequences" of a mass walkout of London Underground staff.

The first 48-hour strike, due to start at 7pm on June 23, is over pay and conditions for tube workers, and the union says the strike is expected to cause particularly severe disruption on the Metropolitan, Piccadilly and Jubilee lines.

The call today for talks with the mayor comes after Transport for London decided to buy out Tube Lines, with whom the original dispute started.

RMT boss Bob Crow said today: “As Boris Johnson takes over the Tube Lines operation, he has got to also start taking responsibility for the mess that the company have left behind and that includes the dispute over jobs, pay levels and working conditions.

“The Mayor cannot wash his hands of this issue and should show some leadership and agree to direct talks with RMT.”

If the dispute continues, a second strike is planned to start at 7pm on Wednesday, July 14, following a ballot of RMT members which voted nine to one in favour of industrial action.