London Underground drivers are striking all day Saturday after talks between unions and transport bosses over working hours broke down.

       RMT Union members on the Northern, Piccadilly, Central, Victoria and Jubilee lines walked out for 24 hours from 4:30am on Saturday.

       This follows a significant reduction in services on the Victoria and Central lines after union drivers on those lines were told not to book on for shifts from 8:30pm on Friday night. This action will run into Saturday and affect the Night Tube service in the evening.

       Transport for London has warned of “severe disruption during strikes” with “little or no service in some places”.

       Drivers are in dispute with TfL bosses over the working rosters for the Night Tube. Union negotiators have asked for more tube drivers to be recruited to run the Night Tube services rather than asking existing staff to work four night shift weekends each year.

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       TfL have claimed that the cost of training new drivers would be too high.

       A statement on the TfL website about the strike says that they will “operate as many services as possible, but this will depend on staffing levels on the day.”

       Full day strikes on the five tube lines will run between 04:30 on Saturday December 18 and 04:29 on Sunday December 19. Other lines are likely to be busier than usual and services early on Sunday morning are also likely to be disrupted.

       In talks this week, TfL asked RMT to call off the action in response to concerns at the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, according to the Evening Standard.

       TfL said they needed to run as many services as possible to help people get to mass vaccination centres - such as Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge - and also to help people get to work.

       Union bosses condemned TfL for an “outrageous last ditch attempt to use the pandemic to try and bully staff into accepting their plans.”

       RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “We are angry and disappointed that Tube management have refused yet again this week to move forward based on genuine and realistic proposals that could have enabled us to recommend the suspension of the planned action.

       “As a result the strike action this weekend goes ahead.”

       He continued: “The issue at the heart of the dispute is that the dedicated Night Tube driver grade, which was popular with women and those with caring responsibilities, and which the union fought to get written into the original agreement, has been ripped up with the loss of 200 posts and complete disregard for the staff themselves.”

       Nick Dent, director of London Underground customer operations, said: “I can only express my deep regret that the RMT union has decided to disrupt Londoners and our transport network once again. This needless action comes at a time when we need to be delivering the best service we possibly can so Londoners can safely comply with the Government’s guidance and deal with the new Covid variant.

       “The other union has agreed to and is benefitting from our roster changes, and we remain willing to work with RMT to review the changes.

       “In the meantime, despite no job losses, more flexibility, more job certainty and more roster options for drivers, five major Tube lines - the Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines - are set for disruption for one full day tomorrow and overnight services on the Central and Victoria lines could be disrupted tonight.

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       “Londoners are therefore urged to check before they travel and consider using other modes as needed.”