London: Subway trains continued to run and nearly all stations stayed open on Sunday night as the deadline passed for a 24-hour London Underground station workers' strike to begin.
London UK Rail, Maritime and Transport union members' 24-hour strike on the London Underground has initially had "virtually no impact" on services, the subway operator said.
The strike, which started at 6:30 pm on Sunday, may cause disruption to the travel plans on Monday for some of the 3 million weekday users of the capital's subway system.
"We believe the majority of stations will be affected, but the full brunt of it won't be felt until first thing,'' said Bobby Law, the London organizer of the RMT, which represents about 4,000 of the Underground's 9,200 employees.
Stations at St. Paul's, Swiss Cottage and Upminster Bridge were closed last night due to staff shortage, London Underground said in an e-mailed statement. The remaining 272 stations are open, London Underground added.
"This evening, the RMT strike has had virtually no impact on London Underground services," London Underground's statement said. "London Underground is running good services on all lines."
The RMT, which represents Underground station employees, is opposed to plans to transfer several hundred workers to different jobs as part of an agreement signed a year ago that also reduces working hours without cutting pay or jobs. The RMT says as many as 800 workers may be transferred, while it agreed to only 200.
"All they've got to do is suspend the introduction of new rosters until April 1, and we would suspend the strike," Law said before it began. "This isn't the deal we agreed to."
Meanwhile, London Mayor Ken Livingston said the introduction of the new rosters wouldn't be suspended. "That would simply be to tear up an agreement that was rightly hailed both sides at the time and the detailed implementation of which has been agreed by the huge majority of stations," he said in a statement.
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