Tube drivers’ £72,000 salary not enough to buy house in London, union boss says

A £72,000 salary earned by some striking Tube workers is not enough to buy a house in London, a rail union boss has claimed.

Eddie Dempsey, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, was quizzed over the pay of London Underground workers amid a week-long strike, which has caused severe disruption in the capital.

When asked on Times Radio on Wednesday if he thought £72,000 meant a worker was not well paid, Mr Dempsey replied: “Well, you can’t afford to buy a house in London, even on £72,000.”

RMT members are taking part in the walk-out in a dispute over pay and hours – with many Tube lines out of service, or heavily impacted by the industrial action.

According to Transport for London (TfL), the average Tube driver has a starting salary of £71,160, while station staff start on £35,270, rising to £44,140 within a few months.

The salaries of RMT members, who are also demanding a reduced four-day working week, has added to the frustration faced by some in the city who have been disrupted by the strike.

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The city’s economy is set to suffer a direct hit worth at least £230m, according to research by the London-based Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).

During his interview, Mr Dempsey acknowledged £72,000 was “a good wage”; however, he said that it was not enough to buy a house in London, where the average price in June was £561,000, according to the Office of National Statistics.

Mr Dempsey said: “I think workers should be able to afford to live in London. And ... if you’ve got to be earning more than £100,000 to buy a house in London, £72,000 is not out of this world.”

He added: “We make no apology for fighting hard for our members, and that’s why our members have got good conditions. And we often get people in the media attacking us for having wages that most people in Britain have lost. So we make no apologies for that.

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“We understand the disruptions are a real pain for people. We take no pleasure in it. But the only way this gets sorted out is through a negotiated settlement.”

On Wednesday, Mr Dempsey said there had been a “collapse” in industrial relations, which he warned could lead to more industrial action. “We want progress towards recognition about the impact of shift work,” he said.

Downing Street has called on the RMT and Transport for London (TfL) to get back to the negotiating table to end the strike.

The prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “We want to see RMT and TfL get back around the table when it comes to these strikes, work together in good faith to resolve this situation in the interests of passengers.”

TfL has offered workers a 3.4 per cent pay rise, which has been rejected, while Nick Dent, London Underground’s director of customer operations, said the union’s demands for a cut in the 35-hour week were “simply unaffordable” and would cost hundreds of millions of pounds.