Consolidate London / UK Strike Thread
 

As we appear to be approaching something of a "winter of discontent" here in the UK, I thought I'd start a consolidated thread to help travellers planning on coming into London and the rest of the UK. Perhaps if anyone sees this thread on the second page of Travel Buzz they could bump it forward? I know I personally rarely go past the first page of this forum.

At the moment there seem to be 3 main potential problems.

1. UK (non airport) Firefighter Strikes.

These have caused chaos on the tube, particularly the PICCADILLY LINE (ie connection from LHR into London) as militant members of the tube unions have refused to work on safety grounds. Regardless of this, around 20 stations (mainly central stations with lift (elevator) rather than escalator access) have been shut. There are 2 planned further strikes of 8 days each, the first schedule to begin next Friday 22nd Nov.

2. UK airport firefighter and security personnel strikes (note these are different from above, they relate only to airport staff).

There are already 2 threads on this in Travel Buzz:
Airport Strike Thread #1
Airport Strike Thread #2

And here's another one from the BA Forum.

Here's the most recent BBC News Story I could see:

To quote PAUL PALMER in the 2nd (most recent) thread above
The latest from BAA's website confirms the above.

3. Buzz (KLM's low-cost carrier) pilots - no dates announced yet:

KLM Strike Thread

Useful links

BBC News
London Underground Website
BAA

Edited for spelling and stuff - couldn't edit the "d" onto "consolidate" in the title though! Also edited for my first ever attempt at making URLs look tidy!

[This message has been edited by Wingnut (edited 11-15-2002).]

Thanks for creating this!. flying VS sfo-lhr arriving 11/28, so hopefully won't happen. Another great way to find latest info on this is to do a search at google.com & click news search at top of page. Sorts results/news stories from newest to oldest

I'm supposed to fly home 12/15. Oh well, I guess if I _have_ to spend another day in London...

take care,
Scott
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he'll spend the rest of his life drinking beer in a boat

You know the old saying, "Another day more in London is another day less in Visalia" (...runs ducking...)

I already changed my travel plans because of this possible disaster.

There are now rumours (Saturday's Guardian) that London Underground staff may ballot to strike because some managers were a bit mean to them about not working during the fire strikes... will keep you posted!

Now that hurts :-) Isn't "Eastbay" just a way of saying "They won't let me live in San Francisco"? <g,d,&r>

take care,
Scott
whose ancestors helped found this town

http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...m/thumbsup.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...m/thumbsup.gif Wingnut!

nice thread Wingnut - good to have a single place with consolidated information on this year's 'Winter of Discontent'

One thing you may want to try and add in if you can find more info....

Any news on the Air Traffic Control stirke? I'd heard they were going to shut down for 15 minutes at some point but never heard what the impact is or when the 'strike' is going to be.

Also not sure if under current legislation people can strike for just 15 minutes. Seems like a loophole to cause maximum disruption without impacting your pay packet.

Ask and ye shall receive... The Times reported on 12th Nov that this is unlikely to happen as probably illegal (they're protesting at management bonuses, which don't directly affect their working conditions). Also, no ballot taken place yet etc etc etc.

Bump, is no new news good news?

No news is no news really.

Re: the airport workers - it was all looking quite good last week (Amicus, one of the unions involved, were ready to settle) until the RMT got militant (again http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/mad.gif ).
Latest news here promises more news on Wednesday 20 Nov, after latest talks.

The firemen are in more talks this week, but personally I would say it's 50/50 as to the next strike happening (eight days from 8am this Friday 22 November), and if so, probability of collateral damage to the tubes is about 90% http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/frown.gif

Oh joy, oh joy


(edited to correct UBB coding and to remove a stray smilie - what the heck was that doing in such a miserable posting ?)

[This message has been edited by Stewie Mac (edited 11-19-2002).]

I can bring you some good news.

BALPA tells me it is now very close to a deal with KLM/KLMuk/Buzz following talks until late last night. There will be no talks today, but a settlement should be announced at a press conference tomorrow; of course I can't say any more about the terms of the deal in the meantime.

News from this weekend....

Times Online - Saturday 16 Nov

Managers are drawing up contingency plans to close some airports, but keep Heathrow and Glasgow open, if unions carry out plans to hold one-day strikes around Christmas.

Firefighters and security staff are due to strike over pay on November 28, December 2, 10, 15 and 23 and then January 2 at BAA’s seven airports. It believes enough staff may work to keep two of its airports open.
-------------

They are meeting on Weds 20th with Amicus and TGWU (possibly) and ACAS....keep your fingers crossed it gets resolved http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

bump to page one, and why is this not in London?

Hi slawecki. I decided to post in TravelBuzz as I thought it was quite an important topic which might significantly affect many users of the board and thus should be posted in the most accessible place.

My reasoning was that I tried to think of a similar situation developing in NYC (a city to which I travel to frequently). I very rarely look at the NYC page because I consider these forums as places people go to ask specific questions about a city. I know what restaturants I like in NYC, I know how to get from the airport to the hotel etc etc etc. If someone had posted news of a similar strike in NYC in the NYC forum, I'd never have got to see it, I'd have arrived at EWR and the problems would have begun! So I thought Travelbuzz was the most appropriate.

(Also, rather than London, it should really be in UK as it affects airports across the country. I bet fewer people look at UK than look at London, and I bet people only going to London only look at London etc etc etc...)