London Underground (LU) issued the following statement on Friday 30 December after the RMT union announced strike action by station staff on 31 December 2005 and 1 January 2006.

The RMT's refusal to even talk with us is totally unreasonable

A London Underground spokesperson said: "The RMT's refusal to even talk with us is totally unreasonable.

"It is ridiculous to demand that we withdraw rosters which have already been agreed by 90 per cent of groups and staff affected - 40 out of 44 station groups are agreed, leaving just four to be resolved, which are all on the Piccadilly Line - before they will agree to talks.

"Withdrawing rosters agreed with nine out of 10 staff would cause chaos, disrupt staff holidays and undermine the 35-hour week agreement.

"On the radio this morning, the only way that Bobby Law could try to justify their action was by misleading the public and RMT members by wrongly claiming that there will be an overall cut of 500-800 station staff across the system.

"Bobby Law knows this is not true. We reiterate our commitment that there will be no reduction in station staffing across the system and no rosters will be implemented which have not been fully validated for safety.

"If those are really the concerns of the RMT, then we have fully answered them - no staff cuts and no unsafe rosters.

"They should call off the strike and let London enjoy New Year's Eve.

"We have been informed that ASLEF and the TSSA are telling their members to work normally and we are being inundated with phone calls and email from staff who disagree with the RMT's behaviour."

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