RMT today welcomed the news that heroic cleaners on London’s Underground network will receive free travel on Transport for London services as of the new financial year.

Following a long campaign fought by the union, the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has today announced that the cleaners, who are outsourced to US company ABM, will finally get the free travel given to directly employed TfL staff. The Mayor has also asked TfL to look into making sure the cleaners get sick pay and to assess whether they can finally be brought in-house in April 2023.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said:

“We warmly welcome this news, which is a victory for our campaigning and a big step forward in our campaign to win justice for London’s tube cleaners.

“For years, we’ve been pointing to the rank injustices in the way these heroic cleaners are treated and we’ve fought to get them a better deal.

“What Sadiq Khan has done here is exactly what a Labour Mayor should do and we’ll be redoubling our efforts now to make sure we finally put an end to the scourge of outsourced Tube cleaning and get cleaners brought in-house in April.”