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TFL bosses on £100,000 a year while fishing for a bailout from taxpayers

TfL pay Underground tube

An exclusive report by the Evening Standard has confirmed that almost 600 executives at Transport for London earned more than £100,000 a year.

This revelation comes in the wake of TFL’s requests for a taxpayer’s bailout of £900 million and on-going strikes for better working conditions headed by Mick Lynch from RMT.

Reportedly, 597 TfL and Crossrail staff have earned six figure salaries in 2020/21 which included a £626,000 payout to former director, Vernon Everitt.

The top earners of this large sum included Tube boss, Andy Lord who received £345,970 including a £23,711 bonus. Surface transport chief, Gareth Powell received £380,294 with a bonus of £54,132 bonus. The highest earner was Chief Finance Officer, Simon Kilonback who is reported to have received £407,461 with an additional sum of £77,825 bonus.

Ongoing negotiations

Key concerns from this revelation came in light of Mayor Sadiq Khan struggling to win a final bailout of £900 million for TfL and a further long term capital funding goal for a complete upgrade of bus networks, the tube and repair to bridges and roads.

The high earnings come as London Underground faces the lowest passenger numbers since the pandemic, despite TfL’s force increasing by 239 staff to 27,034 in 2021/22. Despite the uptick in recruitment, wages of TfL non-Tube staff continue to be strikingly low. TfL staff on lower pay grades were reported to have only received a 3% pay rise this year.

Nevertheless, the RMT continues to call into question the disparities between the rise of inflation and the current pay scale for rail staff. Similar sentiment was expressed earlier this year amongst Arriva bus staff who conducted two bus strikes in March and April.

RMT boss, Mick Lynch said: “The eye-watering sums TfL executives earn shows that it is snouts in the trough for bosses and poorer pensions and conditions for Tube staff.

“TfL does need extra funding from central government but our members and the public will not understand why such exorbitant wages are paid to top executives particularly as the country is gripped by a cost of living crisis.

“There should be a fair funding settlement for TfL and that should go into updating London Underground infrastructure and making sure staff pensions are protected, not lining the pockets of TfL bosses.”

Additional concerns from this revelation come as Mayor Sadiq Khan proposes to cut 22 bus routes while reducing the frequency of an additional 60 buses. All whilst passengers’ bus and tube fairs have risen to 4.8% this year, the highest in nine years.

Government concerns to TfL bosses wage increase

The Government has expressed serious concerns over the revelations and condemned the wage increase as “unbelievable, tone-deaf sums of money.” The response to the revelations comes in light of the Government seeking to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.

Another insider for the Evening Standard condemned the revelations of TfL annual accounts as “outrageous.”

Despite the revelations, an independent review found TfL salaries and bonuses were less generous in comparison to the private sector. TfL commissioner Andy Byford claimed that TfL was “suffering from a brain drain” due to the best candidates going for higher salaries within the private sector.

Chair of TfL Remuneration Committee, Kay Carberry added that it is “vital” for TfL to “attract and retain people with the right technical skills and experience to deliver complex programs and to keep London moving.”

Final Thought

The revelations presented create a stark distinction between the haves and the have nots. The ready acceptance of large sums of money by TfL bosses demonstrates the key concerns expressed amongst workers and the RMT, that cuts made to wages and jobs are simply choices made by the top earners.

Caught in the middle of top earners, the mayor and TfL workers are the public, who must undertake a hit to transport route reductions and the quality of services increasingly reducing.

For TfL bosses to truly retain the best talent in its organization, it is clear they must engage with staff demands for better pay and working conditions.

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