Tube strike: Boris Johnson heaps blame onto RMT

 
Apology: Boris Johnson during the last Tube strike in February (Picture: Jeff Moore)
Jeff Moore
Robin de Peyer30 April 2014

Boris Johnson today accused union members of entering a "pointless battle" as millions of Londoners were hit by Tube strikes.

The Mayor said his own journey into work from his Islington townhouse was "fine", but apologised to people who faced disruption and delays to their commutes.

In a bullish statement, he insisted the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union's opposition to planned changes would not be effective.

"My journey was fine but I realise there are many many people this morning in London who have had a bad experience and I apologise to them for the disruption they are suffering," said the mayor.

He added: "The difficulty really arises when you have on particular group of people and a minority of members of that particular union who actually set their face against any kind of change at all and that is clearly not tenable."

April's Tube strike chaos - in pictures

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RMT bosses called a strike as part of the union's continued opposition to ticket office closures at Tube stations.

But describing the strike as "completely pointless", Mr Johnson said: "I must stress that we are going to go ahead with out programme of modernisation and improvement to the London Underground."

A statement to members from RMT acting general secretary Mick Cash said: "The current plans, closing every ticket office and axing nearly a thousand safety-critical jobs, is solely about massive austerity cuts driven centrally by David Cameron and his Government and implemented by Mayor Boris Johnson."

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