00:00Make no mistake, if we make no progress, then what else can we do?
00:03We either have to just carry on and accept that nothing's going to change, or we have to do this.
00:09Good morning from King's Cross Station. It's day two of a five-day tube strike.
00:14King's Cross Station, one of the busiest stations in London, is closed.
00:18In fact, the entire tube network is closed.
00:21The RMT is out in force, and as things stand,
00:25three million journeys will not be made on the London Underground today.
00:29The strike began on Sunday morning, and the disruption was more than expected from every Sunday,
00:35with both the Bakerloo line and the Circle line completely suspended.
00:39By the end of Sunday, certainly into Sunday evening, the entire tube network was down,
00:44and it remains down this morning.
00:46Now, what is this dispute about?
00:48Well, it's primarily about working conditions and the hours that many tube station staff work.
00:53The RMT is seeking a 32-hour week.
00:56Staff typically work around 35 hours a week, but the RMT says there's big concerns about staff fatigue.
01:04It's holding out for a cut in hours, but transport from London does not seem willing to compromise whatsoever.
01:10That means that this strike could go on until Friday,
01:13unless there's some unexpected development over the course of the week.
01:17We want to see real progress.
01:19Members are absolutely exhausted.
01:21As you say, it's routine to start work at 4, 4.15am.
01:28It's routine to finish work at 1am.
01:31People work weekends.
01:33Some people do permanent nights.
01:35And it is absolutely exhausting.
01:37I did it for 20 years, and you never feel right.
01:41Your head's wrong, you get brain fog all the time.
01:45It's really difficult.
01:47It's important to say that not all of the London transport network is closed.
01:51Despite the tube strike, the Elizabeth line is still running,
01:54although trains were not stopping on Monday morning at Liverpool Street Station.
01:59The London Overground is operating,
02:01and the London bus network is running as well,
02:04although strikes are planned on some routes in West London later this week.
02:08But the advice would be, well, if you can walk, get a cab, or cycle like yourself,
02:13that's probably the easiest way to get around,
02:15because make no mistake,
02:16this tube strike is making life in London very difficult for millions of commutals.
02:21Well, we're not going to call it off without some sort of material progress.
02:24And unfortunately, we went to talk to London Underground last Wednesday.
02:29We expected to be there all day and probably back Thursday and Friday.
02:33But mid-morning on the Wednesday, London Underground said,
02:36well, look, we've got nothing new to say.
02:38They then sent us a letter saying that their position was their final position,
02:42and they've shown no interest in talking to us since.
02:46So, yeah, we're keen to try and make some progress on this.
02:49We need real, real tangible progress,
02:52but we're prepared to discuss with them what that looks like.
02:55But we can't do that sat there on our own,
02:58and the action will continue until we get some sort of resolution.
03:01We'll see you next time.
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