DLR strikes announced: Workers will down tools for 17 days in New Year

Ramzy Alwakeel4 December 2015

DLR workers will stage 17 days of strike action in the new year.

Rail, Maritime and Transport workers will walk out for 24 hours on January 11, January 13, and February 11.

There will be 48-hour strikes starting on February 8, March 7 and March 10.

Then staff will down tools for four days at a time from March 21 and again from March 29.

The dispute between the union and Keolis Amey Docklands centres around allegations of a “creeping culture” of bullying, the use of agency staff and “breaches of agreements, procedures and the recognition framework”.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “RMT members on Keolis Amey Docklands have already shown their anger and determination with rock solid strike action but they are still not being listened to and that leaves us with no option but to schedule blocks of industrial action early next year.

“Our members on DLR are furious at the way that Keolis Amey are trying to bulldoze through some of the worst working practices and conditions that we associate with the operations of the most cheapskate and anti-union companies in the transport sector.

“We will not sit back and allow this aggressive and bullying culture to develop on this key part of London’s transport network.”

It follows a 48-hour DLR strike at the start of November – the first in the network’s history.

Keolis Amey Docklands’ managing director Kevin Thomas said: “We have held a number of meetings with RMT representatives in recent weeks, where considerable progress has been made.

“These meetings are currently ongoing and it is extremely frustrating that RMT have decided to announce further dates for strike action rather than proceeding to seek resolution to the issues.”

He claimed: “Such action will cause unnecessary disruption for our passengers, which I believe is avoidable.

“As always, we continue to seek meaningful and reasonable discussion with the union, with a view to achieving resolution and preventing disruption for our passengers.”

TfL's DLR director Rory O’Neill said on Friday morning the strikes were “unnecessary”.

“This is a matter between the RMT union and the DLR operator, Keolis Amey Docklands Ltd,” he said.

“Threatening strike action is unnecessary, and I would urge both parties to get round the table to discuss and resolve this dispute for the sake of our customers.”

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