DLR Strike: Last-minute talks to take place to avert planned 48-hour walkout

Update: Planned 48-hour strike by London's Docklands Light Rail workers will go ahead after talks ended without agreement.

Last-minute talks between the union workers and KeolisAmey Docklands (KAD) are due to take place in an attempt to avert 48-hour strike action on London's Docklands Light Railway (DLR) service.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) are set to stage a two-day walkout starting at 3.59am on Tuesday 3 November 2015 until 3.58am on Thursday 5 November following a dispute with KAD, which operates the DLR on behalf of Transport for London (TfL).

TfL warned that DLR services are unlikely to run on these days, and underground stations with DLR interchanges such as Canary Wharf, Bank and Stratford are expected to be busier than usual. Jubilee, Central, District, Hammersmith & City and London Overground line services in east London are expected to be much busier as a result of the walkout.

An earlier "avoidance of disputes" meeting between RMT and KAD broke down, but the union leaders and managers of KAD are set to meet again for a last-ditch attempt to settle the issues, including the use of agency staff elsewhere within the KAD network and a "creeping culture of bullying and intimidation of staff being allowed to develop".

Rory O'Neill, TfL's director of DLR, said: "If the strike goes ahead, KeolisAmey Docklands says that it is unlikely that any DLR services will run. TfL bus, Tube and rail services will be operating as normal, extra buses will run on key routes and staff will be available to help. Customers are advised to use our website to plan ahead.

"As other TfL services, particularly in east London are likely to be busier than normal, we ask customers who are able to consider avoiding the busiest times if they can. We would urge the RMT not to subject customers to disruption and to continue discussions with KeolisAmey Docklands to settle the dispute."

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "Our members on DLR are furious at the way that Keolis Amey are trying to bulldoze in some of the worst working practices and conditions that we associate with the operations of the most cheapskate and anti-union companies in the transport sector and that anger is reflected in these ballot results. We will not sit back and allow this aggressive and bullying culture to develop on this key part of London's transport network.

"The company should not have underestimated the anger of the workforce and KAD's abject failure to address these issues which left us with no option but to ballot for action. The union will now consider the ballot result and remains available for talks."

According to the Department of Transport, 110.2 million people used the DRL service in 2014/15, a 7.3% increase on the previous year.