A comprehensive strike threatens London's metro network due to a dispute over wages and working hours

Thousands of subway workers in the British capital, London, went on an open-ended strike on Sunday, September 7, threatening to paralyze the system that serves millions daily, due to a dispute with the company management over wages and working conditions.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport Union announced that its members, "including drivers, signal operators, and maintenance workers, will strike at different times until next Thursday".

Transport for London, which operates the subway, warned of the repercussions of this strike. The Associated Press reported the agency saying: "Services were severely disrupted today, Sunday, and few or no trains are expected from tomorrow, Monday, until Thursday".

The dispute centers around the union's demands to reduce weekly working hours. In this regard, the metro company confirmed that "it offered employees a 3.4% wage increase, but the union insists on reducing weekly working hours from 35 hours to 32 hours", expressing that "Transport for London cannot afford that".

For its part, the union justified its insistence on its demands by pointing to deteriorating working conditions, noting that "the number of people working in the subway has decreased by about two thousand employees since 2018", emphasizing that "its members feel the pressure resulting from difficult work shifts".