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Tube strike begins after 11th hour talks fail
Wednesday 10th June 2009, 9:05AM BST.
Commuters and tourists face two days of travel chaos after last-ditch talks to avert a 48-hour strike failed.
Transport for London told inthenews.co.uk that eleventh hour discussions between managers and unions had broken down at around 18:50 BST on Tuesday.
“As far as we are concerned the strike has now officially begun,” a spokesperson said.
The RMT union had agreed today to hold talks with London Underground at conciliation service Acas.
But the talks that centred on a dispute over job security, compulsory redundancies and low pay, ultimately failed, heralding the start of a strike that will bring virtually the entire tube network to a standstill.
The cost of stopping the 3.5 million people who use the tube from getting to work or forcing them to work from home is estimated at £100 million.
But RMT general secretary Bob Crow defended the strike action.
“RMT is committed to a modern and safe public transport system for Londoners,” he said.
“That cannot be achieved by axing jobs, slashing rates of pay and imposing massive cutbacks on the tube.”
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