Tube chiefs to axe 1,000 staff

LONDON Underground is to axe 1,000 jobs because of the recession.

Hundreds more will be lost at Transport for London, the Tube's parent organisation. Sources said up to 1,000 could also go there.

Union leaders were told of the job losses at a crisis meeting with London Underground today and immediately warned that services would be hit.

The cuts came as hundreds more jobs were cut across London and Britain:

● Legal firm Linklaters said it was axing up to 250 staff, including 120 lawyers.

● Energy provider e.on is shedding 450 staff across the country.

● Up to 1,000 British jobs were put at risk as part of global cuts by drug giant Astra Zeneca, while industrial group Cookson cut 1,250.

● Zavvi, the collapsed music store chain, shut another 15 shops at a cost of 295 jobs.

The carnage came as Chancellor Alistair Darling warned: "As we get through this, it is important to know that from here, in early January, we are going to see a lot of downsides."

Tube staff were told that the first jobs will go in April after a 90-day consultation period. Jobs will go in finance, IT, human resources, procurement, legal and administration as part of an attempt to save £2.4 billion in the next 18 months. The Tube has 20,000 staff - swollen by 7,000 from failed maintenance giant Metronet. There are another 28,000 staff working for TfL. The axe will fall first on non-permanent and contract staff.

A spokesman stressed that front-line staff- train drivers, station staff, engineers and maintenance workers - would not be affected. But Gerry Doherty, leader of the TSSA union, said the job losses were "very bad news for Londoners" and added: "There is no way that cuts of this size will not hit services."

The growing scale of job losses was underlined by the shock move by the world's second largest law firm, Linklaters, to axe scores of lawyers from its 2,320 staff. Some of its more than 500 partners will also go.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister unveiled plans to build houses and boost jobs today as he declared that Britain would get through the recession if it "unites as a nation".

Gordon Brown said that past restrictions on council home building would be lifted to give much-needed work to carpenters, bricklayers and others.

Speaking after world economists warned Britain was likely to suffer worst among rich nations from the global slump, Mr Brown admitted that "this will undoubtedly be a difficult year" but pointed out that the US had been in recession since December 2007, and Europe and Japan since last summer.