Sadiq Khan has said he stands by his decision to give Transport for London (TfL) officials more cash to avert London Underground strike action in January after fresh walk outs were announced last week. The capital’s mayor has not revealed how much he provided to avert industrial action at the start of this year, but it is said to have been £30 million.
ASLEF announced on Wednesday (March 20) that Tube drivers will strike on April 8 and May 4. Finn Brennan, the union’s organiser on London Underground, said that TfL wants drivers to work longer shifts, spending up to 25 per cent more time in the cab, and to ‘remove all current working agreements in the name of flexibility and efficiency’.
But, in response, TfL claimed that it has has ‘no plans to impose these changes and have committed to no one losing their job as part of these changes’. Now, talks between union bosses and TfL are to resume on Wednesday (March 27).
READ MORE: Bakerloo line needs new trains before it’s extended, says Sadiq Khan
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MyLondon understands that ASLEF views the negotiations so far to have been ‘a dance of the seven veils’ as officials demand amended wages in accordance with ‘extra work hours’ and central government has ‘squeezed’ TfL of funding. The union’s position overall remains unchanged from last week when the industrial action was announced, but, if its demands were met, there would be ‘no reason to go on strike’.
Mr Khan said this morning that he is ‘hopeful’ that the dispute can be sorted out. Asked if the extra cash was a waste of money considering ASLEF’s announcement, he said: “So look, we’ve had a number of industrial actions across the country from ASLEF.
Mayor ‘hopeful’ of ‘amicable’ resolution
“The great news in London is, by and large, we resolve these amicably. We were talking this time last week about potential industrial action by engineers on the trams – that was called off.
“Similarly, we’re speaking about the possibility of the first week in January, the first week in January, the entire network being brought to a halt. That was called off as well. I’m hopeful that ASLEF will sit around the table with TfL and these can also be resolved amicably.”
The mayor added that he had reduced industrial action by ‘more than 70 per cent’ compared to the his predecessor, Boris Johnson. He also justified the extra cash given to TfL in January as, if industrial action had gone ahead, ‘just hospitality would’ve lost £50 million’ and ‘a sum much less than that’ was provided.
A Department for Transport (DfT) spokesperson previously told MyLondon: “The Government has provided more than £6.6 billion of support to TfL since 2020 – including the most recent injection of £250 million in capital funding in December 2023. As transport is devolved, it is for the Mayor of London to deliver services in the capital and explain how his decisions are funded.”
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