A STRIKE will take place on the Victoria Line next month because of a dispute over workloads.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will stop working for 24 hours from 9.30pm on Monday, October 5.

The union claims management has gone back on an agreement to reduce the number of return journeys a driver has to make in one day.

The RMT said there has been an agreement in place since 2003 on the line that amount of times drivers would undertake five return journeys in a day would be minimised.

This agreement was made due to the lack of air cooling systems in the drivers' cabs, the union said.

However, it claims since the opening of the new Brixton depot, management has broken this agreement because the air cooling is now acceptable.

Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, said: “This underhand attempt to extract an extra 20 per cent from the working day out of our members has provoked this action on the Victoria Line and we would urge the management side to re-open serious negociations to resolve this issue.”

Howard Collins, London Underground chief operating officer, said: “Londoners will be at a complete loss to understand what this threatened strike is about.

“No driver is being asked to work longer hours. We are simply looking at how we can make the best use of staff time within the working day to deliver the best possible service for our passengers.”

He added: “Quite simply, there is no reason for the RMT leadership to call for strike action on the Victoria Line, especially when these new arrangements have already been accepted by Aslef. We urge them to call it off and work with us to improve services for Victoria Line passengers.”