London Underground drivers will stage eight days of strikes over the winter in a dispute over new working arrangements, the RMT union announced on Friday, setting up months of disruption for millions of passengers in the capital.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union said its Tube driver members would walk out for 24 hours on eight dates running from late November to late February. The strikes are planned for Thursday 26 November, Thursday 17 December, Saturday 19 December, Monday 4 January, Wednesday 6 January, Wednesday 17 February, Tuesday 23 February and Thursday 25 February, with each walkout beginning at noon.
The announcement, made on Friday 6 November, puts the first strike less than three weeks away and lands it squarely on the eve of Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Two of the December dates fall in the final shopping weekend before Christmas, when London's shops and West End streets are at their busiest.
At the centre of the dispute is London Underground's plan to change how drivers work. The company wants to introduce a voluntary four-day week, under which drivers would work four longer days instead of five, alongside a new Trains Modernisation Framework. Transport for London says the arrangement would give drivers an extra 35 days off a year on rosters based on a 34-hour week, in return for changes to working conditions and a move to electronic rather than paper-based systems.
The RMT rejects that description outright. General secretary Eddie Dempsey said London Underground was attempting to dress up what he called a wholesale attack on drivers' working conditions as a voluntary four-day week. The union says the plans would force drivers to spend longer behind the controls, work longer duties, and accept earlier starts and later finishes, and it warns the changes could pave the way for hundreds of job cuts.
London Underground said it had already made changes to its proposals after engaging with the union and encouraged the RMT to put the new proposal to its members. Transport for London did not immediately respond to requests for comment when the strike dates were announced, and as of Friday its strikes page had not yet listed the new dates.
The scale of the disruption will depend on how services are planned for each date, which Transport for London has yet to confirm. Based on earlier strikes in this dispute, the Circle and Piccadilly lines are expected to have no service on strike days, with no trains on the Metropolitan line between Baker Street and Aldgate and on the Central line between White City and Liverpool Street, while other lines run with disruption. Because each 24-hour walkout starts at noon, it hits the evening rush hour on one day and the morning rush on the next.
The strikes will affect Tube drivers only. Nothing announced so far covers buses, the Elizabeth line, the London Overground or the Docklands Light Railway, although the wider network is likely to be busier than usual as passengers look for alternatives.
Passengers should also note that Transport for London's delay refunds do not cover strike disruption. Its conditions of carriage list delays outside its control, including strikes, as ineligible, and there is no compensation for season ticket holders for strike days.
This is not the first time the dispute has led to walkouts. Tube strikes in September 2025 brought widespread disruption to the network, and the two sides have been in dispute over working arrangements for months. The other drivers' union, Aslef, is reported to be in discussions with Transport for London on the final details of the proposals, but no talks with the RMT have been reported.
What happens next is still open. Tube strikes in this dispute have been called off at short notice before when talks made progress, so any of the eight dates could still change if the RMT and London Underground reach a deal. For now, though, Londoners face the prospect of eight days of disruption stretching from the Black Friday sales through the Christmas shopping season and into the new year.
