Tube staff to strike over sacking of two drivers

LONDON: London underground workers have announced fresh strikes on the Bakerloo and Northern lines over the sacking of two drivers.

Members of the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will strike for 24 hours on the two lines from Friday evening.

RMT leader Bob Crow claims the drivers at the centre of the dispute have been victimised because of their trade union activity.

But Howard Collins, London Underground's chief operating officer, said one worker had been dismissed for "a serious breach of safety rules", and the other for "unacceptable and abusive behaviour towards his colleagues".

"For the RMT leadership to try to disrupt Londoners in this way shows a complete disregard for Tube passengers and utter contempt for their own ballot process," said Collins.

"The union leadership utterly failed in its attempt to gain support for the strike from Northern line staff. Only 19 percent of those balloted voted for strike action, and on the Bakerloo line only one in three of those balloted voted to strike.

"If the strike goes ahead, we will once again seek to operate the best service possible."

A strike was held last month over the same dispute, while a separate row over planned job cuts remains deadlocked.