(Picture: PA Archive)
Transport for London on Friday warned an expected eight per cent pay rise for Tube staff will worsen its financial problems as negotiations on its latest Government bailout were set to go down to the wire.
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.
Under the terms of the deal, employees are entitled to the RPI rate of inflation plus 0.2 per cent – based on the February rate, which will be announced on March 23.
The January rate was 7.8 per cent, with a further rise predicted. Tube drivers earn an average of almost £59,000 for a 36-hour week.
TfL sources indicated that further cuts would have to be made to pay for the bumper pay deal, which was said to be a consequence of the “unforeseeable rise in inflation over the last 12 months”. Earlier this week Mayor Sadiq Khan announced a 4.8 per cent hike in TfL fares from next month.
Mr Khan defended the pay agreement with the RMT, Aslef, Unite and the TSSA, which began in 2019.
He told ITV News: “When you make a deal you’ve got to stick by that deal because if you don’t, what confidence can either side have in relation to future deals done?”
Finn Brennan, Aslef’s London organiser, said: “We don’t apologise for negotiating inflation linked pay rises. It is the least people need to protect their living standards.”
A TfL spokesperson said: “We will shortly be entering the fourth year of the pay agreement covering staff on London Underground contracts. This binding agreement was made before anyone could have predicted the pandemic’s effects on our finances or the 30 year high inflationary levels that we are now experiencing.
“As per the agreement, the amount of the pay increase for 2022/23 will be based on the RPI figure for February, which will be published in March.”
It came as TfL’s current Covid bailout – already twice extended - was due to run out on Friday night, with only another short-term settlement until June expected.
TfL is seeking at least £500m plus long-term guarantees on funds to maintain and upgrade the capital’s public transport network. It has already received more than £4.5bn from the Department for Transport to compensate it for lost fares income.
The impact on TfL of repeatedly having to fight for Government support due to its pandemic losses – there have been four rounds of negotiations - was made clear on Friday.
Mr Khan revealed that 10 staff work full-time on securing deals and meeting the conditions of funding, while TfL commissioner Andy Byford and chief finance officer Simon Kilonback focus half their time on the bailouts.
In addition, between 200 and 250 TfL staff have spent 25-30 per cent of their time over the last two years preparing for the negotiations and meeting their terms.
Mr Khan, in a written answer to Lib-Dem London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon, said: “This additional work has resulted in a number of employees working excessive hours at times to absorb the additional workloads.”
Ms Pidgeon said: “We have the wasteful reality of too many TfL staff being constantly tied up in never ending negotiations and form filling for the Department for Transport.
“No business could successfully operate with its senior staff not being able to look ahead and make long term decisions, yet this is exactly the situation TfL has been put in.”
The Department for Transport has been approached for comment.
