Eddie Dempsey, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers’ union (RMT), said he is prepared to call further strikes on the London Underground if Transport for London (TfL) does not make “serious progress” on fatigue and shift‑work issues, despite members receiving a 3.4% pay rise.
Dempsey, who took over as general secretary from Mick Lynch earlier this year, told BBC‘s Politics London that the union would return to the negotiating table but would not rule out further industrial action if talks fail. A meeting between the RMT and TfL is scheduled for Wednesday. The RMT is also pressing for a move toward a 32‑hour working week for London Underground staff.
Nearly all Tube lines were closed between Sept. 7 and 12, forcing tens of thousands of commuters to find alternative routes and prompting widespread disruption across the capital. The Centre for Economics and Business Research estimated a direct hit to the London economy of about £230 million. Businesses in Canary Wharf and Westminster reported footfall down by about 31% compared with the previous week, and major concerts in the city were rescheduled.
The London Ambulance Service reported a notable rise in bicycle collisions in the early days of the strike, with figures cited in media reports ranging from roughly a third to 44% increases. Crowds were seen queuing for buses and taxis at central stations as passengers adapted to the closures.
Dempsey defended the action as necessary to address what he described as long‑running health and safety concerns associated with shift work. Citing an independent study by the University of Greenwich, he said shift patterns on the Underground have a “very bad impact” on workers’ health and warned that some staff can lose years of life expectancy because of the work. “We’re a democratic organisation. My members decide what they want, and then I’m supposed to go out and deliver that,” he said. “We don’t take any pleasure in causing disruption. I’m a Londoner. I love the city. But at the same time, we’re unapologetic about fighting for our members.”
The dispute has sharpened debate over the future staffing of the network and revived calls for greater automation. Academics and some business figures have urged a move toward driverless trains across the Tube network, pointing to the driverless Docklands Light Railway, which opened in 1987. Former prime minister Boris Johnson said in 2020 that driverless trains should be a condition for future TfL funding, and former transport secretary Grant Shapps asked TfL to examine the feasibility of automation after government support during the Covid‑19 pandemic.
TfL has cautioned that full automation would require very large capital outlays. Officials have estimated that converting just three of the oldest lines could cost about £20 billion, and Mayor Sadiq Khan said in December that plans to introduce driverless trains “would not be progressed any further.”
Critics of the RMT’s action were outspoken in the strike’s aftermath. Jawad Iqbal, a former visiting senior fellow at the London School of Economics’ Institute of Global Affairs, told The Times that the industrial action would intensify calls for automated trains and described the union as unable to adapt to changing conditions. “Automation would do wonders for economic productivity and would help bring an end to damaging disputes of this nature,” he said. He added that the public would not “mourn” the union’s demise if it continued to press the dispute.
Dempsey said the RMT was prepared to negotiate and compromise and that the union had been in discussions about shift patterns since 2018. He said members are not demanding an immediate reduction to a 32‑hour week but want a trajectory toward shorter hours and better shifts to reduce fatigue and long‑term health impacts.
The RMT’s membership includes drivers whose pay has been reported in media accounts at around £72,000, a figure cited in the public debate over the strikes. Dempsey emphasized that pay was only one element of a broader set of concerns that include rostering, rest periods and health outcomes.
The BBC interview with Dempsey was scheduled to be broadcast at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 14, and the planned TfL‑RMT meeting on Wednesday will be watched closely by city businesses, commuter groups and local government, all of which said they wanted a swift resolution to avoid further disruption. The union said any decision on future action would be taken through its internal democratic processes if negotiations do not yield an acceptable outcome.