London tube strike dates announced in June and July

UPDATE: These tube strikes are now off.
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The strike dates were announced in the Guardian.

For some reason, this information was not on the front page of the Transport for London website.

Their latest press release instead told us how the new East London Line has doubled passenger numbers in one year.

Well, whoop de doo.

RMT and Transport for London comment on the proposed tube strikes:

Arwyn Thomas, the driver in question was sacked for alleged "abusive behaviour" towards his colleagues, a charge he robustly denies.

The RMT says the "real reason" behind the sacking was because Thomas was a admitted long-standing activists.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow says: "RMT has made every possible effort to get Arwyn Thomas back to work and it is the intransigence of LU management, who have dragged their heels and failed to reach agreement over the past month, that has left us with no choice to put this strike action on."

The union also claims that London Underground has spent "at least £250,000" on legal fees on Thomas's case.

A Transport for London spokesman told the Guardian it would "respond appropriately to the tribunal's finding", and said the strike action had been backed by only 29% of union members.

"It is completely mystifying that, having agreed with London Underground that the tribunal process should take its course, the RMT leadership is now threatening strike action again".

On the Evening Standard article, ASLEF shrugged, from Leyton, comments: "Thomas is supposed to have called a manager working on a station during a strike day a “****ing scab” and it look likely that once again the tribunal will find that he was sacked for something that someone who wasn’t a union activist would have been put on a warning, told to apologise and behave themselves. "

I would advise leaving the house earlier and waiting until the rush hour has died down a bit to get alternative transport back - not always that easy when you're tired I know.

Also, buses, London Overground and the Dockland Light Railway will be much more busy than normal on strike days.