London underground workers held a strike Nov. 11, forcing many tube lines to shut down. As the sixth tube strike of the year, it was sparked by pensions and job cuts, according to the BBC.
Felix Andreasson (’24) said due to the tube strikes he has taken the bus to school, which was disruptive to his schedule.
“It just takes longer on the bus because, especially in the area where I live, the bus is just not as fast as the tube,” he said. “I left 20 minutes earlier than I normally do, and I was still late to school. It’s a major inconvenience on those days.”
Andreasson said the recent regularity of the strikes has been extreme, especially since he does not consider striking to be an effective method.
While I do usually support strikes and unions, I feel like it’s a bit extreme with how frequently the tube strikes occur.
— Felix Andreasson (’24)
“While I do usually support strikes and unions, I feel like it’s a bit extreme with how frequently the tube strikes occur,” he said. “I do think it’s a bad way to convey their message because it harms the public rather than TfL as a company.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who is the chair of Transport for London, said he has requested the unions to find an agreement with TfL without striking. Meanwhile, Chief Operating Officer of TfL Glynn Barton said no changes have been proposed to the unions yet, according to the BBC.
Ultimately, Andreasson said he hopes conflict will be resolved without further disruption to transport lines.
“I’m hoping [the underground workers] can find another way to convey their message besides striking,” Andreasson said.
