Threats of fresh strikes come after mainline rail drivers were handed a double digit pay rise by the Government, prompting warnings taxes or borrowing would have to rise to pay for the increases.
The pay increase offered by Tube bosses would take the basic salary for London Underground train operators to £69,600 a year, up from its current level of £67,100.
Instructors are already paid just under £70,000, although they make up just 10 per cent of London Underground’s 3,300 drivers.
Almost all Tube drivers also work paid overtime. Last year one made more than £100,000.
Every year the company offer a below inflation pay deal, every year the drivers refuse it, every year they threaten strike action to get management back to the table, every year a deal roughly inline with inflation ends up being accepted.
It’s actually extremely rare that strike action over pay goes ahead but sadly having to go through the motions and expense of balloting for action has become part of the process. We need better industrial relations machinery in this country, strikes are the only option workers have.
Keith will pay them don’t worry.
They earn more than a lot of doctors in the NHS, that’s crazy.
Imagine if the company that you worked for had a meeting about staff pay, and the board said to the manager tasked with negotiation: “ok inflation has been at 6% this year, so the maximum we authorise you to give them is 5%, but for every 0.5% less than that you can get them to accept we’ll give you a 20k bonus.
Manager comes to staff and says “ehhhh money is tight, you know our parent company made a loss last year, but we can offer you 2%”
Staff roll eyes and says yeah we know exactly what you’re up to, you already decided what you’re prepared to offer but you’re gonna make us strike for it so everyone hates us.
This is just how unionised industries work.
One of the biggest issues facing this city that is often overlooked and escapes honest scrutiny is the remuneration packages that TfL staff receive.
And in particular, the overly generous pension scheme that virtually no large employer in the country replicates – because it’s not financially sustainable.
Please do not misunderstand the point, it is absolutely fair and reasonable that the staff be paid a fair wage. However, that is not what happens.
Compare for example the pitiful wage that network rail staff receive commensurately. Even their unions couldn’t dream of a remuneration package as generous as TfL’s.
The absolute worst part here is that in London the poorest, and the lowest working classes pay the greatest contributions to TfL finances.
Imagine a cleaner for example who pays to travel every working morning to clean offices in zone 1 from their home in zone 6. Those who work in those offices are more likely to live closer to their place of work, and so contribute less towards TfL fare revenues. The cleaner’s greater fare contributions meanwhile represent an even greater share in their household bills than those of the office worker. Both the cleaner and the officer worker pay additional sums to TfL in taxes (Council Tax and other taxes which the TfL receives in grant funding).
I lost any sympathy for tube and train drivers a long time ago. May be it’s just me but I think a 70k salary to drive a tube train is outrageously good. I’m already annoyed that we live in a world premier city but still don’t have a 24 hour transport system and, in my understanding, much of that reason is because of the downright refusal to do so from our tube drivers. Their level of entitlement when it comes to both their pay expectations and their willingness to work beyond the bare minimum is beyond the pale. It pisses me right off.
70k???
Fuck off FFS.
What the fuck? 70k? They earn more than most STEM graduates after a few years of work experience.
Time to automate the trains and get a true 24hr service. Fuck off this nonsense.
Replace them with computers already
Insane to me how old school socialists will support any kind of industrial action including by guys getting paid so far above the median wage. We need to replace them with robots asap.
70k and a massive pension contribution to boot.
The entry of new drivers is a closed shop, only open to TFL staff, not joe public. Absolute cartel behaviour.
Lazy bastards. Earning more than 90% of the society yet it’s never enough for those money grabbers
Some of these comments display wonderfully the effects of anti union tactics. You should be paid more. Others shouldn’t be paid less just because they’re already a fair bit above average wage. Any wageincrease below inflation is a cut and not one person should have to accept a cut every year.
70k and still not happy. What a bunch of twats.
Why is there no public advertisement or application to be a TfL tube driver?
Yeah good for them for having a Union I say . I really do .
It saddens me to see some of the replies on here from people who have succumbed to anti-union propaganda.
Meanwhile the average FTSE CEO will earn the average workers’ annual salary in only 3 days. And they’ll all happily accept that like sheep.
I wonder how many years of their lives are shaved off, breathing dust and particulates all day – especially those working on the deep lines – every working day for X number of years…
I can feel myself being downvoted to oblivion already… but 70k is not a “high” salary, especially relative to CoL in the capital. Now let’s all be good Bucket-Crabs everyone, and believe what our press-baron overlords want us to believe.
The average pay in the UK is £34,000. Lots of people apply to be train operators. There is no shortage of drivers.
Tfl isn’t some hedge fund giving dividends to shareholders. It shouldn’t be rinsed by unions.
And thats where our extortionate fares are going ladies and gents. That and the free travel for tfl friends and family.
tube drivers are in top 10% of this countries earners. Overpaid drain on the people of London.
Automate the trains. Absolute piss take.
Accelerate. Brake. Open doors. Close doors. I’m sure there’s some safety bollocks and it might be a little bit stressful if you have a suicide in front of you. But £70k? They don’t even steer the fucking thing.
Good luck to them
Not sure I agree with this but it’s a great advert for all workers who can to unionise.
£70k… That’s fucking stupid.
I’d give workers the choice (individually): accept that pay offer or find another job. I imagine a lot will suddenly find £70k a fair wage.
For comparison I’m earning £18k less than that as an almost senior software engineer who’s been in the job a decade.
I used to manage their payroll. (TfL, LU etc).
The money they make on top of their base salary, is quite staggering.
Not to mention the very generous sick scheme that a lot drivers exploit and the extremely generous pension scheme.
LU drivers are known internally as the ‘mafia’ for the way in which their circle of drivers are protected and the shady goings on at main depots.
I am suggesting that tube drivers all take a pay cut for a payrise for All NHS workers. Hope Keir would get my proposal through his troopers and whoever in the government monitoring the internet.
28 comments
***The Telegraph reports:***
[Tube drivers ](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/pensions/private-pensions/tube-drivers-pay-what-dont-want-you-to-know/)are preparing to go on strike after rejecting a pay offer which would have raised their salaries to almost £70,000.
[London Underground](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/18/migrant-pushed-man-tube-track-deportaion-sex-crimes/) staff have been offered a 3.8 per cent pay rise by [Transport for London (TfL)](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/12/tfl-crackdown-fare-dodgers-cost-money-london1/), which is chaired by Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London.
[Mick Lynch](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/05/mick-lynch-piers-morgan-dream-double-act-britain/), the general secretary of the[ National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT)](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/08/27/starmers-fight-with-the-unions-hasnt-even-started-yet/), which represents Tube drivers, is urging members to support industrial action over what he claims is TfL’s “failure to table a suitable pay offer” during negotiations.
Threats of fresh strikes come after mainline rail drivers were handed a double digit pay rise by the Government, prompting warnings taxes or borrowing would have to rise to pay for the increases.
[James Cleverly](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/04/the-conservatives-need-a-modern-pitch-to-match-mrs-thatcher/), the former home secretary and a [Tory leadership ](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/08/28/priti-patel-leadership-membership-cabinet-minister/)candidate, previously said: “The Labour Government has been played by its union paymasters.”
The pay increase offered by Tube bosses would take the basic salary for London Underground train operators to £69,600 a year, up from its current level of £67,100.
Instructors are already paid just under £70,000, although they make up just 10 per cent of London Underground’s 3,300 drivers.
Almost all Tube drivers also work paid overtime. Last year one made more than £100,000.
**Read more:** [**https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/29/tube-drivers-union-threatens-strike-reject-pay-offer/**](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/29/tube-drivers-union-threatens-strike-reject-pay-offer/)
Every year the company offer a below inflation pay deal, every year the drivers refuse it, every year they threaten strike action to get management back to the table, every year a deal roughly inline with inflation ends up being accepted.
It’s actually extremely rare that strike action over pay goes ahead but sadly having to go through the motions and expense of balloting for action has become part of the process. We need better industrial relations machinery in this country, strikes are the only option workers have.
Keith will pay them don’t worry.
They earn more than a lot of doctors in the NHS, that’s crazy.
Imagine if the company that you worked for had a meeting about staff pay, and the board said to the manager tasked with negotiation: “ok inflation has been at 6% this year, so the maximum we authorise you to give them is 5%, but for every 0.5% less than that you can get them to accept we’ll give you a 20k bonus.
Manager comes to staff and says “ehhhh money is tight, you know our parent company made a loss last year, but we can offer you 2%”
Staff roll eyes and says yeah we know exactly what you’re up to, you already decided what you’re prepared to offer but you’re gonna make us strike for it so everyone hates us.
This is just how unionised industries work.
One of the biggest issues facing this city that is often overlooked and escapes honest scrutiny is the remuneration packages that TfL staff receive.
And in particular, the overly generous pension scheme that virtually no large employer in the country replicates – because it’s not financially sustainable.
Please do not misunderstand the point, it is absolutely fair and reasonable that the staff be paid a fair wage. However, that is not what happens.
Compare for example the pitiful wage that network rail staff receive commensurately. Even their unions couldn’t dream of a remuneration package as generous as TfL’s.
The absolute worst part here is that in London the poorest, and the lowest working classes pay the greatest contributions to TfL finances.
Imagine a cleaner for example who pays to travel every working morning to clean offices in zone 1 from their home in zone 6. Those who work in those offices are more likely to live closer to their place of work, and so contribute less towards TfL fare revenues. The cleaner’s greater fare contributions meanwhile represent an even greater share in their household bills than those of the office worker. Both the cleaner and the officer worker pay additional sums to TfL in taxes (Council Tax and other taxes which the TfL receives in grant funding).
I lost any sympathy for tube and train drivers a long time ago. May be it’s just me but I think a 70k salary to drive a tube train is outrageously good. I’m already annoyed that we live in a world premier city but still don’t have a 24 hour transport system and, in my understanding, much of that reason is because of the downright refusal to do so from our tube drivers. Their level of entitlement when it comes to both their pay expectations and their willingness to work beyond the bare minimum is beyond the pale. It pisses me right off.
70k???
Fuck off FFS.
What the fuck? 70k? They earn more than most STEM graduates after a few years of work experience.
Time to automate the trains and get a true 24hr service. Fuck off this nonsense.
Replace them with computers already
Insane to me how old school socialists will support any kind of industrial action including by guys getting paid so far above the median wage. We need to replace them with robots asap.
70k and a massive pension contribution to boot.
The entry of new drivers is a closed shop, only open to TFL staff, not joe public. Absolute cartel behaviour.
Lazy bastards. Earning more than 90% of the society yet it’s never enough for those money grabbers
Some of these comments display wonderfully the effects of anti union tactics. You should be paid more. Others shouldn’t be paid less just because they’re already a fair bit above average wage. Any wageincrease below inflation is a cut and not one person should have to accept a cut every year.
70k and still not happy. What a bunch of twats.
Why is there no public advertisement or application to be a TfL tube driver?
Yeah good for them for having a Union I say . I really do .
It saddens me to see some of the replies on here from people who have succumbed to anti-union propaganda.
Meanwhile the average FTSE CEO will earn the average workers’ annual salary in only 3 days. And they’ll all happily accept that like sheep.
I wonder how many years of their lives are shaved off, breathing dust and particulates all day – especially those working on the deep lines – every working day for X number of years…
I can feel myself being downvoted to oblivion already… but 70k is not a “high” salary, especially relative to CoL in the capital. Now let’s all be good Bucket-Crabs everyone, and believe what our press-baron overlords want us to believe.
The average pay in the UK is £34,000. Lots of people apply to be train operators. There is no shortage of drivers.
Tfl isn’t some hedge fund giving dividends to shareholders. It shouldn’t be rinsed by unions.
And thats where our extortionate fares are going ladies and gents. That and the free travel for tfl friends and family.
tube drivers are in top 10% of this countries earners. Overpaid drain on the people of London.
Automate the trains. Absolute piss take.
Accelerate. Brake. Open doors. Close doors.
I’m sure there’s some safety bollocks and it might be a little bit stressful if you have a suicide in front of you. But £70k? They don’t even steer the fucking thing.
Good luck to them
Not sure I agree with this but it’s a great advert for all workers who can to unionise.
£70k… That’s fucking stupid.
I’d give workers the choice (individually): accept that pay offer or find another job. I imagine a lot will suddenly find £70k a fair wage.
For comparison I’m earning £18k less than that as an almost senior software engineer who’s been in the job a decade.
I used to manage their payroll. (TfL, LU etc).
The money they make on top of their base salary, is quite staggering.
Not to mention the very generous sick scheme that a lot drivers exploit and the extremely generous pension scheme.
LU drivers are known internally as the ‘mafia’ for the way in which their circle of drivers are protected and the shady goings on at main depots.
I am suggesting that tube drivers all take a pay cut for a payrise for All NHS workers. Hope Keir would get my proposal through his troopers and whoever in the government monitoring the internet.