London Underground (LU) issued the following statement after the RMT union announced strike action by station staff on 31 December 2005 and 1 January 2006.

We are prepared to talk to the RMT at any time, up to the eleventh hour if need be

Mike Brown, LU's Chief Operating Officer, said: "Today the RMT leadership refused to join us in talks at the conciliation service ACAS.

"Instead they gave us an ultimatum that we must suspend the agreement for a shorter working week, which they agreed by a 30:1 majority more than a year ago.

"If we did that it would potentially compromise holiday arrangements for thousands of station staff and would unravel the whole agreement.

"The RMT has said it has safety concerns. In fact, this agreement had to pass its safety case before it could be signed.

"The RMT has raised no significant safety issues with us. It knows perfectly well that every new roster has to be validated for safety and if any don't pass they will not be implemented.

"This dispute is completely unnecessary. We are introducing a 35-hour week for station staff for the first time and salaries remain the same.

No reduction in staff

"It is also wrong for the RMT to claim there will be staff cuts - there will be no overall reduction in staff as a result of this deal.

"The agreement takes station staff out of ticket offices, makes them more visible and better able to deal with and provide reassurance to our passengers across the network.

"This deal also comes at no extra cost to the travelling public. The only effect of a strike on New Year's Eve will be to spoil the celebrations of hundreds of thousands of Londoners.

"The RMT should call off this strike and come back to the negotiating table.

"We are prepared to talk to the RMT at any time, up to the eleventh hour if need be, so we can spare Londoners the inconvenience that a strike by RMT members would cause to their New Year's celebrations."

If the strike does go ahead, London Underground will seek to run services where it is safe to do so.

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