Four thousand members of RMT are due to strike on New Year's Eve and on January 8 and 9 in a dispute over the company's refusal to withdraw unsafe rosters and mass staff displacements imposed without agreement.

"We expected London Underground to withdraw the hundreds of displacement notices they have sent out, along with the unsafe rosters they have attempted to impose, and to work with our safety reps to agree safety-validated staffing levels," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"Unfortunately, despite several hours of talks, LUL have not moved towards us on the central safety concerns at the heart of this dispute, and our strike action remains on.

"We waited for three weeks for London Underground to talk and they finally agreed to today's meeting at Acas only after our members voted by a five-to-one margin to strike to defend safe staffing levels.

"It is a great shame that LUL did not use the opportunity offered by today's talks to recognise our members' genuine safety concerns and embark on the discussions with our safety reps that could have avoided this dispute.

"LUL have left it very late to find a solution to this dispute, but we will make ourselves available for talks if the company shows it is prepared to negotiate seriously," Bob Crow said.