Last week, on Friday 5 September, tube union RMT initiated its rolling strike action, centering their demands on improvements for fatigue management and pay. As part of a separate dispute, Docklands Light Rail (DLR) workers also began industrial action on Sunday 7 September. Now, it’s caused chaos for the TfL website.
TfL website says ‘please try again later’
Today, as a new work week begins, we’re seeing the full impact of the strikes. London’s underground rail network has ground to a virtual standstill. Instead commuters are resorting to cars, bikes and buses. What’s more, Transport for London’s (TfL) website crashed this morning as passengers sought out alternative means of transport.
Travelers looking to find out the impact of the unions’ strikes on TfL’s website and app this morning were greeted by an “internal service error” message. This was accompanied by a request that they “please try again later”.
A TfL spokesperson said:
We apologise to our customers for the current disruption affecting the Journey Planner website and the TfL Go app, due to higher than usual demand.
We are aware that both services are currently experiencing issues, and we understand the inconvenience this may be causing to those planning their journeys across London. Our technical teams are working urgently to identify and resolve the problem as quickly as possible and we apologise again for any disruption caused.
‘Rightly fed-up’
In a typically equivocal move, Starmer’s office issued a milquetoast acknowledgement of commuter’s frustrations around TfL. Rather than directly backing the workers, the Labour leader chose to plead that bosses and union reps get back around the table and end the disruption.
A spokesperson for the prime minister gave the messages:
I think Londoners will rightly be fed-up with the disruption from Tube strikes this morning – as parents try and drop their kids off at school, get to hospital appointments, get to work – and RMT and TfL need to get back around the table, work together to resolve this dispute in the interests of passengers.
Likewise, a representative for London mayor Sadiq Khan:
Nobody wants to see strike action or disruption for Londoners.
Strikes have a serious impact on London’s businesses and commuters. The mayor continues to urge the RMT and TfL to get around the table to resolve this matter and get the network re-open.
The strikes do impact people’s lives – there’s no denying that. A strike that caused no disruption wouldn’t be much of a strike at all. However, whilst Starmer and Khan wring their hands about workers with difficult commutes, they appear to have forgotten that RMT members are workers too.
At a moment when the unions are calling for historically-allied Labour to demonstrate its commitment – or even considering severing ties altogether – the party would do well to remember who they’re meant to be fighting for. That said, we’re not going to hold our breath for a show of solidarity with rail workers from this particular government anytime soon, though.
Featured image via the Canary
