RMT calls off planned London Underground strike over Queen's Jubilee weekend

27 May 2022, 13:34 | Updated: 27 May 2022, 14:07

A planned strike by workers at two London Underground stations over the Jubilee weekend which was set to "cripple" the Tube network has been called off.

Staff at Green Park and Euston Tube stations were due to walk out next Friday in a row over allegations of bullying.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union said "significant progress" had been made during talks with London Underground (LU), leading to an agreement to have a review with union involvement to deal with the issue.

RMT said if no immediate improvements are seen and the review does not lead to a just settlement, strike action for a different day will be called.

Read more: 'What more do they want?!': Nick Ferrari's fury over rail strikes

Read more: 'Don't disrespect the Queen by striking on her Jubilee weekend', union warned

Shapps: RMT's planned strikes not fair or reasonable

Mick Lynch, RMT's general secretary, said: "London Underground has finally seen sense to take the union's arguments seriously regarding workplace bullying and we will now suspend to the strike on June 3 to hopefully reach a resolution quickly."

The RMT members are also set to strike on June 6, the day after the extended weekend, when Londoners will be heading back to work.

It looks likely it will force stations across Zone 1, in central London, to shut down.

The union's plan to strike over the Queen's Jubilee celebrations sparked outrage, with TfL's commissioner Andy Byford accusing RMT of "disrespecting" the monarch.

Read more: When is the Queen's Platinum Jubilee bank holiday?

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Nick Ferrari's fury over RMT union strike over pay and conditions

He told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast earlier this week: "There's absolutely no need for anyone to disrupt the Queen's Jubilee.

"The Queen has been on the throne for 70 years, people are coming to London specially – let's not disrespect the Queen with a dispute."

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps also told Nick he couldn't think of "anything less popular" than the union to conjure up.

Read more: RMT to call crippling 24-hour London Underground strike for day after Jubilee weekend

"A word to the unions – if you're trying to make yourselves unpopular… I would've thought doing something over Her Majesty's [Platinum] Jubilee, we're the only people in history who will have been alive when a monarch's celebrated 70 years on the throne, I can't think of anything less popular that they could conjure up."

He called on the union to have "some common sense".

Mr Lynch hit back at the Transport Secretary's criticism of the planned strike, saying he should "focus less on trying to restrict the democratic rights of workers to take industrial action and more time encouraging Network Rail and the train operating companies to settle the national rail dispute".

Read more: All aboard the Elizabeth Line! Crowds swarm Paddington as London's newest Tube departs

"TfL bears responsibility for letting this issue fester when all they have to do is ring the union telling us they've dealt with the person in question," he said.

"We call for reason and common sense to prevail and for TfL to do what they should have done when we first raised this issue a few years ago."

The announcement comes after the successful opening of the new Elizabeth Line, which began running services on Tuesday morning.