A nice quiet day, everything running smoothly though the Jubilee was closed from one end to the other due to a power failure; they’ve not been having a lot of fun this year. Last week LUL came out with their pay offer, 4% this year with RPI +0.25% for the next four and unsurprisingly with RPI at 5.5% the unions have rejected this.

ASLEF have already got 5.6% for two other TfL subsidiaries this year and train drivers on other railways are tied into no more than two years at a minimum of RPI +0.5%. LUL have just announced that we carried a record 1.1bn passengers in the twelve months up to March 2011, a rise of 42m on the previous twelve months; business is obviously booming.

In the past these pay talks have dragged on for a year or more but all parties must be aware that we don’t have that luxury this time, the Olympics are coming. Whatever method LUL intend to use to fill the extra trains the unions aren't going to agree to it until the pay deal is finalised.

I’ll keep you informed as and when I hear news.