Transport For All, an organisation which champions the cause of accessible transport in the capital, has voiced serious concerns about London Underground's cuts plan.
The organisation of disabled and older people said of the plans to shut all ticket offices and cut nearly a thousand workers:
RMT rep Janine Booth has written a guide to autism in the workplace for the TUC - their first ever guide on this subject.
Autism is a term covering a wide range of conditions that reflect neurological differences among people. It can cause social barriers which may affect the lives of people with autism at work. There are about 332,600 people of working age in the UK with autism. However, only 15 per cent of adults with autism are in full-time employment and only 9 per cent are in part-time work.
With strike action solid this morning, tube union RMT reminded Mayor Boris Johnson of his repeated promises not to close tube ticket offices – broken promises that run right to the heart of the dispute.
Asked last year about his plans to close a number of ticket offices across London, Boris Johnson's spokesperson said:
"This Mayor takes his promis es to Londoners extremely seriously. Every station that has a ticket office will continue to have one.”
RMT press briefing – the tube dispute in numbers
3%: The number of tickets the Mayor claims are sold by ticket offices.
23%: Total amount of ticket transactions ticket offices actually have responsibility for.
7.577 Million: The total transactions at ticket offices in 2013, an increase on the 7.418 million from 2012.
14% Projected increase in passenger numbers over the next five years.
17% Cut in the number of frontline station staff proposed by the Mayor.
Responding to Boris Johnson’s attack on trade unions this morning, RMT acting general secretary Mick Cash said:
“From Boris Johnson’s wholesale assault on the trade unions this morning it is crystal clear that he has sought to engineer and provoke a dispute on London Underground, by bulldozing through his cuts and closures programme, in order to use Londoners as pawns in his personal crusade for the leadership of the Tory Party.
In this 'strike special' edition:
Tube strike action on as London Underground reject RMT proposals
Tube strike action starting this evening, over the closure of ticket office and the axing of safety-critical jobs, is on after London Underground management rejected a series of proposals from RMT negotiators that could have created the grounds for a suspension.
At talks convened through ACAS this morning, RMT set out a whole series of grounds which would have allowed progress to be made, the whole package was rejected out of hand by the London Underground management.
RMT Acting General Secretary Mick Cash said:
Location of RMT picket lines
Bakerloo Branch;
Elephant & Castle – 0500- April 29 & 30
Queens Park – 0455 - April 29 & 30
Central Line West;
White City -0400- 29 & 30 April
West Ruislip – 0400- 29 & 30 April
Central line East;
Loughton - 0445- 29 & 30 April
Hainault- 0445- 29 & 30 April
Leytonstone - 0445- 29 & 30 April
Morden & Oval;
Morden – 0445- 29 & 30 April
Camden No.3;
Golders Green – 0430 – 29 & 30 April
East Finchley – 0430 – 29 & 30 April
High Barnet – 0430 – 29 & 30 April
Pic & Dic west;
Acton & Northfields depots – 0445- 29 & 30 April