Khan accused after City Hall move leads to security job losses

SADIQ KHAN has been accused of having “no compassion or empathy” after more than 20 security and ancillary staff at the new City Hall building were made redundant ahead of the mayor’s move there in September.

Ground staff at the Crystal building in Newham, which is owned by the Greater London Authority, were recently told their services were not needed during a six-month renovation. The staff were also told that they would not be transferred to new roles.

In letters seen by The Sunday Telegraph, the workers complained that they were being shunned by Mr Khan’s team. One stated: “We worked all the way through the Covid 19 pandemic, putting our lives at risk. [Sadiq Khan] pushed a job creation programme in his election campaign, but because of his actions we suddenly find ourselves facing unemployment.”

Another added: “In total there will be 26 redundancies on site. We find it most inhumane that all these livelihoods will now be lost. There seems to be no compassion or empathy regarding the loss of our roles.”

City Hall was criticised by two prominent local Labour politicians. The Mayor of Newham, Rokhsana Fiaz, said: “This hasn’t been dealt with by the GLA in a sensitive way ... or appropriately.”

East Ham MP Stephen Timms said the security officers are “understandably aggrieved”.

The row centres around a decision by City Hall not to conduct a Transfer of Undertakings, which would have allowed the security roles to be reinstated under GLA contracts when the building reopens as City Hall later this year.

According to the security officers, the transfer request was denied three days before their redundancy date.

A GLA spokesman said: “The GLA made the contractor aware at the earliest possible opportunity that the service was to be terminated in order for them to maximise the amount of time available to find other postings for their employees.”