Union warns over Transport for London executive pay

RMT union says members unlikely to accept pay restraint after nearly 400 managers took home six-figure salaries last year London mayor Boris Johnson has been pulled into the public sector pay row after it emerged that nearly 400 staff at Transport for London earned more than £100,000 last year. The number of TfL employees taking home a six-figure salary rose from 251 to 379, although the London mayor’s transport authority pleaded exceptional circumstances for the increase. TfL said the number of top earners was boosted by severance payouts to 84 staff, as well as 68 employees who joined TfL’s payroll after the takeover of Tube Lines, the last remaining public-private partnership contractor. A further 31 six-figure employees were employed by Crossrail, the £16bn project to build a new rail line under the capital. TfL said the number of high earners within its main operations of the London Underground, the bus network and the congestion charge, had risen by just two to 196 people. Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT trade union, said members would not accept warnings of a need for financial austerity if hundreds of senior figures are earning six-figure salaries. “We will take no lectures on pay restraint and job cuts while the top layers of TfL are so clearly awash with cash. It is RMT members who are out there day in and day out delivering the success for the company and we expect them to have both the resources and the rewards that they deserve for transporting growing numbers of people around this city as the clock ticks down towards the London Olympics.” Bonuses for TfL’s senior officers have yet to be announced. Last year TfL executives, led by commissioner Peter Hendy, decided to waive their performance awards. However, one scenario under consideration this year could see TfL’s top team defer their bonuses pending the performance of London’s transport network during the 2012 Olympics. TfL is in talks with the RMT over a pay deal that could head off the threat of industrial action during the games. Hendy and senior colleagues have noted a recent deal between the RMT and Network Rail, in which staff will be paid up to £500 each for performing extra shifts during the Olympics. It includes an agreement, described by industry sources as a no-strike deal in all but name – that disputes during the games will go to arbitration with no industrial action while discussions take place. Referring to the Network Rail deal last month, Crow said: “We will be looking for the same if not better on London Underground.” Transport Trade unions London Crossrail Boris Johnson Bob Crow Dan Milmo guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 27, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.