Tube Strikes: Mayor gives into unions demands at a cost of £68M

Posted by GLA Conservatives in News   Share2017

Jan
31

Against all evidence the Mayor is reversing decisions to reduce hundreds of unnecessary staff

The Mayor has given in to union’s demands and massively scaled back plans to reduce unnecessary station staff at a cost of £68million.

Following the closure of underused ticket offices TfL planned to remove 950 station positions at a savings of £50million a year.

In an independent review of this decision, ordered by Sadiq Khan, these plans for ticket office closures were supported. Even with this evidence unions staged a 24-hour Tube strike in early January due to these changes.

Today TfL announced they will be hiring 325 new station staff, and this is estimated to cost £17million a year.*

Keith Prince Said,

“The Mayor has made big claims that he will cut waste at TfL, but today he has hired 325 staff members proven to be unnecessary.

“Having already broken his ‘Zero Strikes’ pledge Sadiq Khan is buckling under the pressure of his union paymasters.

“The Mayor’s new solution to preventing future strikes is giving in to union demands. In this round of talks he has rolled over and given away £68million of taxpayer’s money.

“Sadiq Khan’s partial fares freeze has already lost TfL £640million, and this is just another example of his weak decision-making.”

*The original plan of cutting 950 positions would save TfL £50M a year, putting the cost per position at £52,631. 325 additional staff would cost £17.1M a year, or £68.4M over Sadiq Khan’s Mayoralty.