Workers on the London Underground were on strike Tuesday, closing many of the system’s lines and affecting about 3 million passengers.

The strike was called by two unions — the Rail Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) and the Transport Salaried Staff Association (TSSA) — over plans by London Underground to cut 800 jobs.

Many of the jobs under threat are in the underground stations, mostly in the ticket offices. New technology means passengers can now buy tickets online and can also use machines to update plastic travel cards.

About 8,000 workers took part in the 24-hour strike, and nine of the 10 major underground lines in London were affected but only one was completely closed.

Bob Crow, the general secretary of the RMT Union told Xinhua on a picket line at Euston station, a major London transport hub, that the job cuts were a threat to safety.

“You just can’t come and say ‘we need to make 800 job losses’. The jobs disappear and as a result of that London Underground gets a less safe system than what they had before,” said Crow.

He added, “When the terrorist attacks took place only a few years ago these were the same people who evacuated the traveling public and got the people to safety.”

Crow said a big percentage of people cannot get online to get their ticket, and people with bad vision cannot use the machines and people like to see plenty of uniformed staff around the network because it makes them feel secure.

“It’s being done purely for financial reasons and we believe it is the tip of the ice berg because we believe that the austerity cuts that are going to take place in October mean that there is more of this to take place,” he said.

The aim of the strike is to get London Underground to “come to the negotiating table and start negotiating seriously with us,” said Crow.

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London and a Conservative, said the strike was a “trumped-up and politically motivated” attempt to attack the new coalition government, whose major party is the Conservative Party.

Johnson has deployed 100 extra buses, escorted bike rides, marshaled taxi ranks, and more capacity on Thames commuter boats to help Londoners cope with the disruption.

However, many Londoners simply chose to take a day off work, some booking a holiday and others not getting paid. Some workers were able to take work home with them before the strike to do on the strike day.

Crow said there would be further strikes, “There are four more days — the first week in October and two in November as well. Obviously we don’t want to take action on those days. We want to get around the table and resolve our issues. The members have made it quite clear, they are in this for the long haul if need be and we will be out on strike again in October unless the company starts talking to us seriously.”

Johnson on Tuesday afternoon in an interview for the BBC called for legislation to stop strikes in key areas, particularly to stop strikes taking place during the 2012 Olympics. He said, “What I want to see is the government to take action to look at the threshold for these unions to call a strike.”

The strike ended at 9 p.m. on Tuesday evening, and although knock-on effects are predicted to continue into Wednesday the underground system is expected to be back almost to normal quickly.