Forum Topic

London Tube staff payrise will worsen financial crisis, TfL warns

TfL chiefs say they have “no viable alternative” to honouring the final year of a four-year deal that benefits about 16,500 Underground drivers and station staff, but which will reportedly cost up to £100m to implement. Who was ultimately responsible for the pay award, ''Don't blame me'' Khan. Unbelievably these feted people get a very good pension after the gravy train ends, free travel for anyone in their not too immediate family and they are refusing to drive the Night Tube. The begging bowls are already out from tfl, almost unbelievable were it not happening in London.

peter king ● 1678d12 Comments

Many TfL staff particularly train drivers are overpaid and enjoy pension benefits that we can only dream of but this is a problem that Sadiq Khan inherited and certainly wasn't mitigated by his predecessor Boris Johnson. There is no begging bowl out here. The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is choosing to chronically underfund transport in London and not provide any stability in the finances of the network in the capital and we will all suffer as a result.

Francis Rowe ● 1678d

It's the final year of a four year agreement that comes under HIS leadership, nothing that he inherited the full story in the Sub Standard states. No wonder the begging bowl is out with astute financial control like this.

peter king ● 1678d

The pay situation re: LU staff is a problem that Sadiq inherited, that Boris inherited before him & (I think) Ken inherited prior to that.TfL made a poor decision to benchmark drivers pay to South Eastern some years ago, at the point when South Eastern were the highest paid of the franchises. That coupled with some pretty poor negotiation over the years has lead to a situation where pay and benefits are significantly better than those enjoyed by most.The current pay deal, quite definitely is a Sadiq issue though, given it's a 4 year deal & he's now in Year 6 of his Mayoralty. Can't be trying to pin that on anyone else.I'm not sure you should believe the propaganda from either side on this one.TfL is still spending money like it's going out of fashion, still operating largely on a cash basis, still not nearly as efficient as it should be. On the other hand, a small revenue grant (which will naturally come with conditions attached, however little Sadiq likes it) should probably be in place for all metro transport authorities.

Mark Warburton ● 1678d

I understood that the payrise is linked to RPI as opposed to CPI like a lot of others, so who on earth could have foreseen that inflation was going to go up like it is? I cannot see how the Mayor cannot honour this, and whose fault is the rise in inflation? That well known beacon of honour and integrity Bozo.

Vanessa Smith ● 1678d

'..some pretty poor negotiation over the years has led to a situation where pay and benefits are significantly better than those enjoyed by most.'Some pretty good negotiations, I'd say.  That's what Trades Unions are for.  Other employers should be pressed to pay more to their workers rather than us somehow blaming those workers who do have decent pay and conditions for the work they do.

Peter Evans ● 1678d

...and the reason for TfL's 'financial crisis' is the persistent refusal of this central government to make any regular contribution to its functioning, unlike most other public transport in the country.  This is an entirely political anti-Sadiq Kahn project, and people are falling for it.

Peter Evans ● 1678d

Spot on Peter, were the Mayor of London a fellow Tory the attitude from government would be completely different. How many countries are there that don't subsidise public transport?

Vanessa Smith ● 1678d

So, Peter, are you actually suggesting that TfL doesn't waste colossal amounts of money annually?The poor negotiation is from TfL's side, the transport unions, as dishonest and objectionable as they are, were doing their job. Sadly for Londoners, TfL were not.Lack of Government funding is, by a long way, not the only reason for TfL's funding crisis. Some support would help, undoubtedly, but TfL is an inherently wasteful & inefficient organisation, that is renowned for overpaying its staff & I'm not just talking LU staff, I mean all of them.For example, they pay on average £15-20k per annum more for a bog standard Management Accountant than Local Government do. Are they approximately 30% better than those counterparts? No, of course they're not. This is repeated across the organisation & it makes them highly inefficient. The internal administration is also painfully complex and wasteful.

Mark Warburton ● 1678d

In fact, the previous London Mayor, one Johnson B, agreed with Tory Chancellor Osborne to phase out theGovernment's operating grant for TfL, which amounted to about £700 million a year, making London one of theonly transport authorities in the Western world not to receive an operating grant from central Government. "Here's your poisoned chalice, Sadiq - I'm off!"More details in this TfL report:https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/tfl_funding_settlement_-_elly_baker_am.pdf

Peter Evans ● 1678d

A reasoned and well stated reply. Seems as if poor old Sadiq can do no wrong in many rose tinted eyes.

peter king ● 1678d

Yes and BJ also announced that the UK would be introducing an Ultra Low Emission Zone charge and probably with that also said it would be the biggest and bestest thing in the world, but didn't stick around to introduce it he promptly moved on elsewhere to make more promises as an MP.

Philippa Bond ● 1678d

Frances, can you explain what you mean by overpaid? You might have a point but it’s an accusation thrown at so many jobs. Perhaps you could give some information about what the current salaries are and what you think they should be paid.

Stewart Jones ● 1676d