I am writing to let you know that the planned Tube for next week by the RMT union has now been suspended.

Our services will therefore operate as normal.

Yours sincerely,

Mike Brown
Managing Director

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Rail, and Transport (RMT) union members will stage a 48 hour walkout () next week from 9pm on to 8.59pm on Thursday.

The strike follows the breakdown of talks with London Underground (LU) management over tube ticket office closures. Transport for London (TfL) announced last year that savings of up to £50m a year could be made by closing ticket offices, but the decision has led to a series of disputes with the unions. say just 3% of journeys start with tickets bought at ticket offices, but research shows that when we actually buy tickets, the figure is closer to 1 in 5. RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said:

“RMT negotiators have made every effort in the long-running talks to resolve a range of issues that impact on our members jobs, their pay and working conditions and the safety of the services that they provide to the travelling public.

“RMT will not stand back and allow Government-driven austerity cuts to hollow out the tube system and it as a dangerous shell. We are also fully aware that the current cuts are just part of a multi-billion pound attack that will include such lethal ideas as driverless-operation. The strike action next week is designed to force the to instruct his senior officials to back away from this toxic cuts package and engage in serious and meaningful negotiations.”

Strikes were also called by the RMT in January, and a 72 hour strike was suspended in May. Fellow union ASLEF staged a walkout on the Central and Waterloo and City lines in August.

The walkout will coincide with strikes by council workers and civil servants belonging to the Unison, Unite and GMB unions in a separate dispute over job cuts and pay.