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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jan/07/rmt-walks-out-of-talks-aimed-at-averting-london-tube-strike
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| RMT walks out of talks aimed at averting London tube strike | RMT walks out of talks aimed at averting London tube strike |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Britain’s biggest rail union has left talks aimed at averting a strike by London Underground workers, dashing hopes of a last-minute deal. | Britain’s biggest rail union has left talks aimed at averting a strike by London Underground workers, dashing hopes of a last-minute deal. |
| A second union also met with the company to discuss a dispute over jobs and ticket office closures, and was made a new offer that it will put to its members on Saturday night. | |
| Members of the two unions are due to stage a 24-hour strike from 6pm on Sunday. | |
| Officials from the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) met London Underground under the chairmanship of the conciliation service Acas for a fourth day of talks. The RMT left the meeting without any sign of progress being made. | |
| The TSSA general secretary, Manuel Cortes, remained at Acas after the RMT, making it clear he was determined to continue trying to break the deadlock. | |
| He said after the meeting ended: “London Underground have made us a new offer. We will now share its contents with our reps and seek their views overnight.” | |
| A TSSA source said: “We really are more concerned about working out how to undo the staffing and safety problems Boris Johnson [the former mayor] and George Osborne [the former chancellor] bequeathed to the tube. | A TSSA source said: “We really are more concerned about working out how to undo the staffing and safety problems Boris Johnson [the former mayor] and George Osborne [the former chancellor] bequeathed to the tube. |
| “Resolving these issues so staff can work in a safe place and know they’ve got procedures in place to protect and keep safe their passengers are what concern our overworked, over-tired and over-abused tube staff. That takes talking.” | “Resolving these issues so staff can work in a safe place and know they’ve got procedures in place to protect and keep safe their passengers are what concern our overworked, over-tired and over-abused tube staff. That takes talking.” |
| An RMT spokesman said that over 800 jobs had been axed under the so-called Fit For The Future programme, agreed by former London mayor Boris Johnson which had been a “disaster” and should be reversed. | |
| The RMT added that London Underground was refusing to reopen any of the closed ticket offices. | |
| “The cuts have gone too far and it is the staff who are highlighting the impact on moving millions of people every day.” | |
| In a message to RMT members, regional organiser John Leach made it clear that the talks had “failed” and the strike will go ahead. | |
| He said: “We saw London Underground face to face and reiterated our position on the key issues of the dispute. We demanded that they guarantee the staffing of all station control rooms. We demanded that the current offer of 150 additional jobs be significantly improved and guaranteed to not be lowered under any circumstances. | |
| “London Underground’s response was to repeat their offer of yesterday. This is just not acceptable. The unsafe practices and pressure on staff and passengers have to be resisted and will be.” | |
| A Transport for London (TfL) spokesman said: “We are still in dispute resolution talks at Acas and will remain available for talks throughout the weekend.” | |
| A company source said the RMT left the talks without giving TfL the opportunity to share any further proposals with them. |