Revealed: Transport for London pays 843 staff to work on union duties – at a cost of £9.2million

By Ross Lydall

Transport for London is giving more than 800 staff paid time-off to work for a union – at a cost of £9.2m to the organisation.

A total of 843 TfL employees worked on union duties in 2024/5 – up from 799 the previous year.

Of these, 35 worked full-time on union activities.

The direct cost to TfL of allowing time off rose by £1.3m, from £7.9m to £9.2m, according to TfL’s annual accounts.

This is up from £5m in 2016/17, the year in which Sir Sadiq Khan became mayor.

Susan Hall, leader of the City Hall Conservatives, said: “If the figures look bad now, just wait until Labour’s new Employment Rights Bill comes into force and supercharges the abilities of union barons to demand, demand, demand.

“TfL is already facing eye-watering funding shortfalls which impact service quality because of Labour’s poor decisions in Government and City Hall. We must prepare for things to get much worse – and Labour is to blame.”

TfL’s 28,000 staff are represented by seven different unions – Aslef, the RMT, Unison, TSSA, Unite, Prospect and PCS.

TfL says its approach is “in line with legislation guidelines from Acas”, the conciliation service, and agreements with its unions.

London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, who chairs the TfL board, has previously said that unions play a valuable role in maintaining workplace relations between staff and managers.

However Tube strikes were threatened in April, May and November last year, only to be called off at the last minute. A planned strike on the Elizabeth line in February was also cancelled after a pay deal was struck.

According to a written answer provided by the mayor to Tory assembly member Neil Garratt, 37,671 shifts have been lost to strike action on the London Underground since Sir Sadiq became mayor in May 2016.

The system of allowing employees work on union business as part of their job is known as “facility time”.

TfL said that the cost of providing facility time would increase each year due to pay rises and the amount of engagement required with unions.

TfL’s total wage bill for 2024/25 came to £2.28bn. TfL’s total headcount increased over the year from 28,008 to 28,124.

Last week The Standard revealed that more than 2,200 staff earned in excess of £100,000 – including 78 who earned more than the Prime Minister.

A TfL spokesperson said: “Trade unions play an important role across London ensuring workers are treated fairly at work.

“In many cases, we are legally required to allow representatives paid time off to carry out union duties, and meeting these costs represented 0.40 per cent of our total wage bill in 2024/25.”

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