Tube drivers strike against ‘fake four-day week’

‘These changes are no good for our safety, it’s no good for passenger safety,’ RMT rep says

Tube drivers in the RMT union have taken to picket lines this week against bosses’ imposition of a “fake four-day week” that attacks their terms and conditions.

They walked out at 12 noon on Tuesday for 24 hours—and are set to strike again from 12 noon on Thursday.

An RMT union rep on the picket line outside Seven Sisters station in north London spoke to Socialist Worker. “The company is trying to change our terms and conditions,” he said.

“If they want to bring in a four-day week, then obviously they need to negotiate with our union. We want to move to a four-day working week, but not under these conditions,” he said.

Drivers in the RMT want to work 32 hours over four days with no loss of pay, not the 35 hours currently proposed.

Your train could be operated by someone who started work at 03.45am but does not get a break for over five hours. After a half an hour break, they could be back at the controls for up to 9.5 hours.

The rep highlighted how much drivers are already suffering.

“The issue around fatigue is already massive. This would make it much worse,” he said.

“When you’re on a train you can’t just take a regular break whenever you want one. And this would mean you’re going to have to go longer without one. That causes fatigue, and fatigue causes mistakes and errors. And errors become incidents and accidents.

“Our job is a safety critical job. When we have a packed train or we’re driving during peak hours, we have at least 1,000 passengers on board.

“These changes are no good for our safety, it’s no good for passenger safety,” he explained.

This isn’t all. Drivers might not know what shifts or the locations they are working until 24 hours before they are due to clock in.

“Management are really adamant that we take it or leave it. We said we’re leaving it. We don’t want to take it,” the rep said.

Bosses have refused to negotiate any of these changes with the RMT. They presented a document in March 2025 and they continue to insist on imposing it, unchanged.

The Aslef train drivers union represents just over half of Tube train operators.

Aslef members voted in favour of the proposals, with the union calling it a “once in a generation opportunity”

Another RMT union driver on the picket line highlighted the dirty tactics being used by bosses. They’re hoping to pit the two unions against each other to push through their raft of detrimental conditions.

“When the offer was first put to us, the first word on the topic was that it was subject to an agreement by both unions. So if one union had rejected it, it would get thrown out.”

“How is it that your condition was upon both unions agreeing and you are still going through with it?”

“Overall, more than 55 percent of drivers combined across the two unions said no,” he said.

“But, because Aslef got their ballot through, management says Aslef has agreed and they have a majority of members, so they’re going ahead. This is one of the problems of having two unions not working together to get the best deal.”

Aslef drivers shouldn’t cross the picket lines.

Support the Tube strikers—they’re fighting for all our safety.