The RMT union has announced a series of tube strikes over the next few months, in a dispute over new working hours.
The strike is over plans to compress the working week to four days instead of five. That would mean longer shifts but slightly fewer hours per week, and although TfL says the changes are voluntary, the RMT is not convinced.
The RMT says TfL’s proposals would force drivers to surrender hard-won protections, whether they choose to work four or five days a week.
RMT has demanded guarantees that no driver choosing to remain on existing agreements would suffer any detriment, but says that London Underground management has failed to provide those assurances.
The 24-hour strikes will begin at noon on the following dates:
- Thursday 26 November 2026
- Thursday 17 December 2026
- Saturday 19 December 2026
- Monday 4 January 2027
- Wednesday 6 January 2027
- Wednesday 17 February 2027
- Tuesday 23 February 2027
- Thursday 25 February 2027
A noon start means the strike will affect two days, with the evening and following morning rush hours affected, and likely a couple of hours either side as well due to shift changes and displaced drivers.
The expected impact will be confirmed closer to the date, but based on previous strikes in this dispute, there is likely to be no service on the Circle line, Piccadilly line, the Metropolitan line between Baker Street and Aldgate, and no service on the Central line between White City and Liverpool Street.
Services are expected across all other Tube lines but will be disrupted, and service levels will vary across the London Underground network.
RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said: “London Underground is attempting to dress up a wholesale attack on drivers’ working conditions as a voluntary four-day week.
“But there is nothing voluntary about a scheme that forces drivers to give up existing protections whether they work four days or five, and threatens those who refuse with displacement from their depots.
“Our members are being asked to spend more time driving trains, accept longer and more unpredictable shifts and surrender agreements that have been negotiated and defended over many years.
“This is not about improving work-life balance. It is about squeezing more work out of fewer drivers while giving management greater flexibility at the expense of our members.
“RMT is not opposed to a genuine four-day working week that benefits our members, but we will not accept it being used as a vehicle for job cuts, intensified working and the erosion of terms and conditions.
“London Underground must withdraw these damaging proposals and engage seriously with the union to reach a negotiated settlement.
“Our members are determined to defend their jobs, working conditions and the safety of the Underground, and they have our union’s full support in taking strike action.”
The other drivers’ union, Aslef, has previously accepted the changes to the work rosters in favour of the four-day week.
Instagram Engineering
Shopify Engineering