MOSCOW, October 7 (RIA Novosti) - London tube workers are set to hold a 48-hour sit-in next week in protest against cuts and in amelioration of job conditions, The Guardian reported Tuesday.
"RMT" - Britain's Rail, Maritime and Transport union - "will not stand back and allow government-driven austerity cuts to hollow out the tube system and leave it as a dangerous shell. We are also fully aware that the current cuts are just part of a multibillion-pound attack that will include such lethal ideas as driverless operation," the newspaper quoted the general secretary of RMT Mick Cash as saying.
According to Cash, negotiations with London Underground were in place, though he noted that very little progress was landed. The cuts, Cash told the newspaper, would be detrimental to the quality and safety of the tube services, especially at a time when more and more people are starting to use the tube.
Cash also stated that the reduction in ticket offices would lead the tube to become "a no-go zone" for the disabled as well as for women traveling alone. He noted that an increase in violence and sex assaults was registered last week when the tube services were off.
According to media records, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said this February that only three percent of the total number of tube tickets were purchased at ticket offices, calling for "fewer people in those offices".
