London Underground: Long-running TfL Night Tube strikes on Central and Victoria lines have been suspended

The long-running strike action on the Night Tube has been suspended, after causing months of disruption.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union had been in a dispute over safety concerns, shifts and work-life balance, but have finally come to an agreement with TfL.

The strikes had been scheduled to take place on the Victoria, Central, Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines every weekend till December 4.

From January 7, 2022, strike action has taken place every Friday and Saturday from 8.30pm until 8am the following day, meaning services were disrupted.

Nick Dent, London Underground’s director of customer operations, said: “We are pleased that the RMT has suspended their industrial action on Night Tube services.

“This is good news for London and we will continue to work closely with all our trade unions.”

Night Tube services were suspended in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and ahead of their return Transport for London ‘s (TfL) merged daytime and Night Tube drivers so each would be working around four weekend night shifts per year.

The RMT union rejected the changes and held a series of strikes.

The union’s assistant general secretary John Leach said: “The RMT National Executive Committee has taken the decision to accept an offer on Night Tube from London Underground, to agree a minimum number on each line who wish to preference Night Tube duties.

“RMT’s Train Functional Council will meet to discuss the implementation of this and assist local reps in monitoring all Night Tube duties being carried out by volunteers.

“Accordingly the NEC has suspended all Night Tube industrial action with immediate effect.

“The dispute is not resolved, but we will remain vigilant and monitor the situation on the ground. In 3 months time or earlier if needs be we will review it at ACAS.

“We have fought hard and will continue to do so going forward.”

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: ‘We are pleased that after our strong industrial campaign, we have made significant progress on the Night Tube dispute. Our members took months of strike action on this issue, and we congratulate them on that.

‘We hope to see this matter is fully resolved as part of a three-month review, but our strike mandate remains in place, and we are not afraid to use it if need be.’