Tube union boss Mick Lynch has criticised the “exorbitant wages” paid to hundreds of bosses at Transport for London during the current cost of living crisis.
Mr Lynch, general secretary of the RMT, spoke out on Thursday after the Standard revealed that almost 600 TfL executives earned more than £100,000 last year.
This was an increase of almost a third on the number of officials picking up a six-figure amount, primarily due to bonuses earned pre-pandemic having been paid in the 2021/22 financial year.
Mr Lynch has become a cult figure for his straight-talking and appears to be winning public support in the campaign for better pay and no compulsory job cuts on the national railways.
The RMT has called four network-wide Tube strikes since March in protest at the axing of up to 600 station staff posts and fears that staff pension benefits will be reduced to save cash.
Last week its members voted in favour of taking further action if they cannot achieve their aims.
Mr Lynch said: “The eye-watering sums TfL executives earn shows that it is snouts in the trough for bosses and poorer pensions and conditions for Tube staff.
“TfL does need extra funding from central government but our members and the public will not understand why such exorbitant wages are paid to top executives particularly as the country is gripped by a cost of living crisis.
“There should be a fair funding settlement for TfL and that should go into updating London Underground infrastructure and making sure staff pensions are protected, not lining the pockets of TfL bosses.”
TfL is currently seeking a further £900m bailout from the Government, plus a long-term capital funding deal.
It is likely that the pay revelations will weaken its hand in negotiations. The Government has required TfL to make huge savings in return for about £5bn of bailouts.
A TfL spokesperson said: “We are continually focused on ensuring we operate as efficiently as possible, and remain confident that we can achieve financial sustainability for our operations by April 2023.
“Since 2016, the number of people on a [basic] salary of more than £100k has dropped by nearly 20 per cent.
“It is essential that weâ¯continue to attract and retain the right leadership across all disciplines of the organisationâ¯to ensure that TfL can keep London moving in a safe and sustainable way for the future.”
Mr Khan was said to have accepted that Londoners would be shocked by the pay-outs. He said they were a legacy of “sky-high salaries and long-notice periods” agreed when Boris Johnson was mayor. He has now agreed with TfL that “no new bonuses should be paid until TfL achieves financial sustainability by April 2023”.
On Thursday morning, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps rejected a request from Labour MP Karen Buck to meet Mr Khan face-to-face to resolve TfL’s funding crisis.
TfL’s current £203m bailout deal, which began in February, was extended last week by 19 days, taking it through to July 13.
Mr Shapps said it had not been possible to agree a new deal last week “in part due to the unsatisfactory progress made by TfL” on meeting conditions of previous bailouts.
He told MPs: “There have been numerous meetings with the mayor, and they have included our officials as well as me from time to time.
“The mayor has failed to bring forward his plan for the reform of pensions, missing the deadline and causing us to have to, in part, create an additional extension for that purpose.
“On Thursday or Friday of last week, he stood up and made a speech saying that he would dodge the difficult issues set up by his own independent review of the pensions and that there was not even a cause for having a pensions review, which has cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds.
“The mayor needs to start taking some responsibility for his own transport system in London.”
Ms Buck, who represents Westminster North, said she was disappointed with Mr Shapps’ response and added: “The Government are once again missing in action.”
Incredibly disappointed with the response to my question to @grantshapps on this issue this morning. I asked him to meet @SadiqKhan to sort out a long term funding deal for @tfl. He refused to answer. The government are once again missing in action. https://t.co/dkBC6PpAnx
— Karen Buck (@KarenPBuckMP) June 30, 2022
