Khan bows to unions over Tube strikes
Mayor of London makes bumper pay offer to RMT in ‘foretaste’ of Labour government
SADIQ KHAN last night bowed to rail unions by offering a bumper pay deal to avoid London Underground strikes in what Boris Johnson said gave a “foretaste” of life under a Labour government.
The RMT union announced that it had suspended its planned four-day action just 20 minutes before disruption was due to start after the Mayor of London found extra money for an “significantly improved” funding offer.
Mr Khan accused the Government last night of taking an “adversarial approach” towards the unions as he sought to claim credit for the strikes being cancelled at the eleventh hour.
But the last-minute timing means Tube passengers are expected to continue to face disruption today, while Mr Khan, who promised “zero strike days” during his election campaign yet has overseen more than 130 strikes during his mayoralty, was accused of being “in the pocket” of Left-wing organisers.
It also reignited a political debate along themes that look set to feature prominently in the long run-up to the next general election, which is likely to take place this autumn.
Mr Khan said: “This shows what can be achieved by engaging and working with trade unions and transport staff, rather than working against them.”
Tory critics made the opposite argument, saying his willingness to offer more money offered a glimpse at how Labour would act if it won the election.
Mr Johnson, the former prime minister who preceded Mr Khan as London mayor, told The Daily Telegraph: “Sadiq Khan’s epic show of apathy, and failure to deal with the unions, is only a foretaste of what the nation could expect under Labour.”
Rishi Sunak has begun the year attempting to put his handling of the economy, including on restrained public spending amid pay demands from striking unions, front and centre in his re-election bid. The Prime Minister will take his message to the North West this morning as he answers questions from voters in the first of many planned public engagement sessions in 2024.
Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, has argued that he would handle industrial action better than Mr Sunak by talking more with the unions – a position strongly criticised by Tories.
RMT announced that it was cancelling its four-day strike, which had been expected to bring London Underground services to a halt, at 5.10pm yesterday, just 20 minutes before the time that Underground users had been advised by Transport for London (TFL) to complete their journeys.
The last-minute nature of the announcement meant that Tube passengers still experienced reduced service last night with all 11 Tube lines affected, while the Docklands Light Railway and London Overground were partially closed. TFL said Londoners would “still face disruption tomorrow” as a result of the action “being suspended at this late stage”.
The change appears to have been the result of extra money made available by Mr Khan to convince RMT to cancel the industrial action. RMT members had voted to strike over a pay rise due in April 2023. TFL had offered a belowinflation boost of 5 per cent.
Mick Lynch, the RMT general secretary, hailed “further positive discussions” with Mr Khan’s office and said future pay talks could take place on an “improved basis”.
He said: “This significantly improved funding position means the scheduled strike action will be suspended with immediate effect and we look forward to getting into urgent negotiations with TFL in order to develop a suitable agreement and resolution to the dispute.”
It is understood that senior figures in
Mr Khan’s office had been talking to trade union leaders directly over the weekend in an attempt to avert the strikes.
But the intervention appeared to catch TFL negotiators by surprise.
A spokesman for TFL confirmed it “remains the case” that it would not be able to meet the pay demands of unions led by the RMT and said Mr Khan had only notified bosses of his ability to provide “additional funds” yesterday.
The spokesman said: “This intervention from the mayor has been discussed with the unions, and the RMT union has now suspended the planned strike action.”
It is unclear how much extra money was promised by Mr Khan or how it will be funded. Tfl’s budget has been under severe strain since the pandemic, given changing working patterns.
A source close to the Mayor said the money had been found as part of the latest planning for the annual budget, which is set to be unveiled in the coming weeks.
Mr Khan’s office had estimated that if the strikes took place the loss for the capital’s hospitality industry alone would have been £50million.
He had declined to use new minimum service powers, introduced by the Government last year, to prevent the Tube network from being shut down and halt scenes that would have seen around 10,000 TFL staff walk out.
His team argued that such powers would not have proved effective, since they did not stop employees running underground stations which have to be open from still walking out. During his election campaign in 2016, Mr Khan promised “zero days of strikes” on public transport.
Mr Khan said: “I’m delighted that this week’s Tube strikes have now been suspended. They would have caused huge disruption for Londoners and would have been a major blow to the capital’s businesses at the worst possible time.”
A Conservative Party source said: “It looks like Transport for London ‘found’ the money to stop the strike after all. I would be fascinated to know where it came from.”
Susan Hall, the Tory mayoral candidate who will take on Mr Khan when he stands for re-election in May, said: “While I am pleased the strikes have been postponed, the reality is Sadiq Khan has only bought himself some breathing room before the election.
“So long as our Mayor is in the pocket of his party’s union paymasters, TFL strikes will continue to cause needless disruption.”