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London - Millions of London commuters struggled to work on Wednesday after staff on the city's underground rail network went on a 24-hour strike, their third walkout since September in a dispute over planned job cuts.
Transport for London, which runs the publicly controlled network known as the Tube, denied the city was paralysed. It said about 40 percent of trains were operating, as well as the Docklands Light Railway which serves the financial district in east London.
But the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said every line on the underground was either suspended, part-suspended or running ghost trains through closed stations as support for the strike remained "rock solid".
Workers are protesting against London Underground's plan to eliminate 800 jobs through the reduction of station staffing and opening hours at some ticket offices.
The railway, which opened in 1863, carries some 3 million passengers daily and business lobbies have said the stoppages cost the capital up to £50m ($80m) per day. There are signs that industrial unrest may be building in Britain as deep spending cuts from the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, aimed at curbing a record peacetime budget deficit, start to bite.
London firefighters walked off the job on Monday over contract disputes and are set to strike again on Friday evening, Guy Fawkes Night, when many people will build bonfires and set off fireworks to celebrate the failure of a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605.
Governments have been quick to implement austerity measures to pay down debt and cut deficits after the global recession, and workers have mostly failed in their attempts to get them to lessen the cuts. Protests by French workers have fizzled out since President Nicolas Sarkozy won parliament's final approval last week to raise the retirement age.
However, the main union demonstration in Britain is not planned until next year.
In London, the RMT union said the latest walkout had "even greater impact than the previous two days" of strikes as 11 000 of its members and those of the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) stopped working on Tuesday evening.
The RMT, which has said the job cuts threaten safety, called on London Mayor Boris Johnson to intervene to stop them.
Transport for London, which is controlled by the mayor, said extra bus services had been provided, as well as an additional 10 000 journeys on river services and guided cycle rides.
"Londoners will face some disruption, but around 40% of Tube trains are running with services on nearly all lines, meaning that the city is not paralysed and people are able to get around," London Underground's Managing Director Mike Brown said in a statement.
He said the planned changes would not result in compulsory redundacies and were in the interests of customers.
