After what seems like an absolute bloody eternity of back and forth, the great ‘will they or won’t they’ romance between the TFL and the tube workers appears to have arrived at some form of mutual agreement.
And… they’ve called off this week’s strikes. Sort of. All three tube unions will instead stage two 24-hour walkouts on September 8 and 10 rather than this week.
You know, the one’s that had us all collectively losing our freaking minds just a few hours ago. The one that caused George Osbourne to show absolutely zero compassion for overworked tube drivers, and the one that made all of these restaurants offer a 50 percent discount (we’re assuming they have to stick to that).
The tube service would have been four whole days of disruption, London would have been awash with walking commuters and over aggressive first-time cyclists. It would have been the apocalypse as we know it.
In a complete turnaround leaders from the unions Unite, RMT and TSSA all announced that they would be pulling out of the strike earlier today, with the aim to postpone it until several days before the Night Tube scheme is officially due to open on September 12.
Here’s hoping that everyone’s happy now and we can all be friends again for a bit. Who’s excited for four uninterrupted days of having your face squashed into someone else’s armpit?
[Via: Evening Standard]