Aslef union members, drivers on London Underground’s Central and Waterloo & City lines, took strike action on Friday 22 August in protest at what the union’s Finn Brennan called management’s “bullying culture”. Reps at Leytonstone said that new managers had been recently appointed and were trying to stamp their authority by breaking their own negotiated agreements.
For example, a worker on long-term sick leave would face redeployment after 12 weeks’ absence; managers are now implementing this after eight weeks. With no jobs to be redeployed to, this means workers will be made redundant.
No Central Line trains ran through London’s centre and the Waterloo & City line was closed completely as only a few drivers went into work.
Workers said an agreement had been close on Wednesday but managers came back to Acas on Thursday and reneged on what they had agreed the day before
Aslef members hope the strike will end this culture of harassment and restore those agreements arbitrarily ignored by management.
