London strikes in April and May from Tube and National Rail to Heathrow and NHS

After a disrupted April for train passengers, there are set to be a range of strikes that will affect Londoners in May. Strikes will take place on the London Underground and National Rail services, at the NHS and Heathrow Airport.

The London Underground strike takes place on Friday (April 26) with stations closing at short notice, but staff will also not work overtime until well into May. Train drivers will stage a strike too, affecting many major regional and national train services over three days in May. Around 700 members of Unite will strike again in a long-running dispute over pay.

Healthcare workers - including cleaners, porters and facilities staff - are taking action over money allegedly not paid to them that others were offered during the pandemic. At Heathrow, 800 members of staff will go on strike after the management reportedly announced its intention to outsource hundreds of roles which union bosses claim is to cut costs. See below for more details of each planned strike.

READ MORE: Mice on London Underground - from losing their tails to commuters warned to tuck trousers into socks

London Underground - April 26

The London Underground is facing disruption this Friday (April 26) as station staff walk out. It means some stations are being closed at short notice. In addition, Tube drivers will not work overtime until May 5. The TSSA rail union announced that strike action will be taken by members working as Customer Service Managers, starting 'between 00:01 to 23:59 on Friday, 26 April 2024'.

The union say they are striking because of the London Underground's 'refusal to negotiate seriously and fairly with our union' over pay. They further say that they will 'not accept the continued threats to our members' roles, locations, terms, and conditions to stand unchallenged'.

READ MORE: London Underground strike to hit London this week as stations may close 'last minute'

National Rail - May 7 to 9

Train drivers will walk out from Tuesday, May 7 to Thursday, May 9. The train drivers' union Aslef has said that the rolling one-day walkouts are over pay and working conditions, saying: "The dispute is to get train drivers, who have not had an increase in salary for five years, since their last pay deals expired in 2019, the pay rise they deserve. The cost of living has increased significantly in the last five years."

On these days there will be little to no service from specific train providers across large areas of the train network. Drivers will also refuse to work overtime from Monday, May 6, to Saturday, May 11.

Train drivers from these providers will strike on the following days:

Tuesday, May 7: c2c, Greater Anglia, GTR Great Northern Thameslink, Southeastern, Southern, Gatwick Express and South Western Railway

Wednesday, May 8: Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway and West Midlands Trains.

Thursday, May 9: LNER, Northern Trains and TransPennine Express

5 London NHS hospitals - May 7 to May 19

NHS workers have been involved in a long-running pay dispute. Workers at Barts NHS Trust will go on strike over what union Unite says is the 'failure of their employer to pay a lump sum payment worth over £1,600'. Almost 700 members of Unite will take strike action because that sum of money was allegedly not offered to these NHS workers during the pandemic.

Workers such as porters, cleaners and facilities staff at the largest NHS trust in the UK will strike for 12 days at five hospitals managed by Barts Health NHS Trust. These are The Royal London Hospital, St Bartholomew's Hospital, Whipps Cross Hospital, Newham Hospital and Mile End Hospital.

READ MORE: NHS workers to stage fresh strikes in pay dispute

Heathrow - April 29 to May 13 (various strikes)

At Heathrow, there are a plethora of workers taking strike action starting on Monday, April 29 where Border Force officers will walk out for four days because of changes to their working conditions. The Public and Commercial Services trade union said more than 300 members will walk out from April 29 to May 2 at terminals 2, 3, 4 and 5 of Heathrow Airport. These strikes will affect arrivals rather than departures.

Then from Saturday, May 4, to Monday, May 6, Unite has announced that its members who are refuelling workers will strike, causing severe disruption for passengers over the bank holiday. They are striking because of cuts to the terms and conditions of new staff who have joined since the beginning of the year, the union claims.

Finally, from Tuesday, May 7 to Monday, May 13, around 800 staff in various departments of Heathrow are taking part in a week of strike action, protesting against Heathrow's 'cost-cutting exercise' that will see work outsourced. Those striking include workers in passenger services, trolley operations, and campus security.

Unite regional co-ordinating officer Wayne King said: "Strike action will inevitably cause widespread disruption across the airport, leading to delays and disruption. However, this is a dispute that HAL (Heathrow Airport Ltd) has brought on itself.

"Unite is committed to ending the race to the bottom that HAL appears to be set on and that is best achieved through introducing multilateral collective bargaining on pay and conditions for groups of workers at Heathrow regardless of their employer."

READ MORE: Fresh Heathrow strikes announced with week of disruption set for next month

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