Who is on strike today and how does it affect you? Daily update for February 4th

It’s a quieter day today when it comes to strike action in the UK – but don’t expect there will be no disruption at all.

Waves of labor unrest have swept through the nation for months, emptying railroads, delaying deliveries and seeing some government services grind to a halt.

Today there will be two different pickets – London Underground workers and civil servants.

After two days of massive disruption to London’s main commuter train, only the London Underground is affected by strikes today.

On the first of two days of the shutdown, workers on the Bakerloo line who are members of the Locomotive Engineers’ Union Asleft (the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firefighters) will go on strike.

This means the line running from Harrow and Wealdstone in a north-west London suburb to Elephant and Castle in south London will be closed.

All other lines of the London Underground are unaffected by the strike.

The union is arguing over a plan that would allow passengers to end up in sidings and depots due to a lack of security checks.

Aslef called the proposal “flash and dash,” adding that drivers would have to rely on unreliable 50-year-old public address announcements to avoid getting stuck.

Transport for London (TfL) managers are hoping to scrap a security measure whereby train carriages are physically checked to ensure they are empty as part of cost-cutting measures.

Finn Brennan, organizer of Aslef on the Tube, said: “This puts both passengers and staff at risk.

“Previous experience had shown that removing physical controls resulted in thousands of passengers being unknowingly taken to sidings or depots.

“We understand the pressure on the London Underground to cut costs, but this must not come at the expense of passenger and staff safety.”

TfL said: “The safety of staff and customers is our top priority and we have never and will never compromise on safety.

“No one wants to see strikes on the network, especially as we try to encourage commuters and visitors to return to London. We will continue to work with Aslef and urge them to stop this action.’

The transport network said no changes have been made to security checks but hopes to end the requirement to check trains for emptiness at the end of a journey.

Due to barriers in the doors of the wagons, according to TfL, it is not possible for customers to get off the tracks at sidings or depots.

Following the strike, early morning Bakerloo services are expected to go ahead as scheduled on Sunday.

Bakerloo staff will be stepping out again next Saturday.

Pickets are appearing alongside subway workers, legal advisers and court workers who are members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which represents civil servants.

The advisers work for HM Courts and Tribunals Service, which manages court services in England and Wales.

This is the second day of their four-day strike over the launch of the common platform, which the union says has sent fears “through the roof”.

The Government spent £236million on the case database system to ‘modernize the court system’. According to HMCTS, Common Platform has handled nearly 158,000 criminal cases and is active in more than 100 courts.

PCS said the platform was “fundamentally flawed” and called for an adequate risk assessment and a promise not to cut further staff as a result.

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https://metro.co.uk/2023/02/04/whos-on-strike-today-daily-update-for-february-4-18220116/ Who is on strike today and how does it affect you? Daily update for February 4th