Just days after the Subway workers paralyzed New York, the British transit workers union (RTM), which represents all transit workers, made a 24-hour strike on the London Underground. The strike —from 12 midnight December 31 to 12 midnight January 1— had a strong impact because it is a tradition that every New Year's the Underground trains run all night long, in order to facilitate the movement of passengers during the festivities of New Year's.
The strike, passed by an 80% vote by the workers, was in repudiation of London Underground restructuring plans, which include closing ticket booths, the sale of electronic tickets, the redistribution of personnel and the reduction of the workday to 35 hours.
The workers denounced that the adjustment will provoke job losses and will affect both the efficiency of the service and the safety condtions for workers and passengers. RMT underlined that workers who have even been congratulated for the outstanding way they fulfilled their obligations in the wake of the terrorist attacks last July 7, carried out on three trains and a bus, are exposed to relocation within the company. “The lists the London Underground wants to impose will reduce the number of workers per station at any given time, in many cases by half,” said the General Secretary of the RMT, Bob Crow.
The strike was observed by all workers, although the company ran emergency units. The 4,000 subway workers have voted in favor of another 24-hour strike for January 8.