A day that threatened to cause chaos on the roads appears to have started without too much trouble.
Tens of thousands of rail and Tube workers went on strike today (Tuesday June 21) over pay, and jobs and pension concerns respectively.
But many people appeared to have listened to warnings not to travel on Tuesday, with few large queues for buses in Peckham and Bermondsey between 8am and 9am.
Traffic was definitely busier on the Old Kent Road and other major routes in the north and centre of the borough on Tuesday morning, suggesting that more people were driving to work than usual. Camberwell New Road was very busy with traffic, with one bus user saying it had taken him an hour and a half to get to his job in Westminster.
Several Transport for London (TfL) bike stands were also empty or nearly-empty, indicating that people had chosen to cycle to work than on a normal day.
Two people waiting for the bus canvassed for comment on Jamaica Road in Bermondsey said they had been stressed thinking that there would be huge queues to get on, but had been surprised not to find them.
Tuesday was the first day of the rail strike, which is going ahead on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday this week. The RMT said the rail strike was not about train drivers’ pay, but to support other rail workers, who are lower paid. Tube drivers are mostly represented by another union – ASLEF. The Tube strike is only on Tuesday.
Every Tube line was fully or partly suspended on Tuesday. Out of lines going through Southwark, the Jubilee and Bakerloo lines were closed entirely, while the Northern line was running only in the north London suburbs. The Overground routes going through south-east London were also closed.
News emerged on the eve of the strikes that national Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s office had told his shadow cabinet not to show support to the union members on picket lines. Some Southwark Labour councillors gave vocal backing to the RMT strikes.
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Sam Foster, a newly elected councillor in the Faraday ward in Walworth, was at the London Bridge Tube station picket line on Tuesday for an hour before work.
He told the News that he was showing “basic worker solidarity” in the face of “decades of rollback and anti-union legislation.”
“What they’re asking for doesn’t strike me as an unreasonable demand in any respect.” Cllr Foster added that Southwark Labour leader Cllr Kieron Williams had made “no suggestion” that his councillors should avoid picket lines, in contrast with Sir Keir.
Cllr Evelyn Akoto, a cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: “For those who are upset about today’s strike, it’s important to understand the truth behind this decision – workers have a right to protect their livelihood!”
Meanwhile James McAsh, a councillor for Goose Green ward in East Dulwich, said: “I want to feel safe when I’m on a train. I want the track to be properly maintained and for the driver to be focused on her job, not distracted by financial worries.”
