23 February 2026
Outsourcing shows that TfL acts in corporate interests and not those of Londoners, says union. Photo Workers.
Cleaners on London’s Tube are fighting against outsourcing their work and the deterioration in their pay and working conditions that brings.
Rail union RMT staged a protest on Wednesday 4 February outside London’s City Hall against the Transport for London (TfL) decision to award a new five-year cleaning contract to outsourcing giant Mitie instead of bringing the work in-house.
Inferior terms
The contract with Mitie covers more than 2,000 London Underground workers. It means that the cleaners will continue to be employed on terms and conditions inferior to other directly employed London Underground staff.
TfL is responsible for implementing policies determined by London Mayor Sadiq Khan. It delivers public passenger transport in the capital either directly through subsidiary companies like London Underground, or through contractors.
Campaign
RMT has an ongoing campaign to end outsourcing across the industry. It criticised the decision to award another contract to Mitie and leave existing cleaning contracts in place such as that in the Docklands Light Railway.
‘The union says the Mayor has relinquished control of TfL to private outsourcing interests.’
The union says this shows that Khan has effectively relinquished control of TfL to private outsourcing interests. He has allowed corporate priorities to override both his democratic mandate and the interests of workers and passengers.
RMT is calling on the Mayor to terminate the Mitie contract, publish an urgent plan for the early insourcing of all TfL cleaners, and immediately mandate decent sick pay for DLR cleaners. The union is campaigning to make the Labour government’s promised “biggest wave of insourcing for a generation” a reality for all rail workers.
Pattern
The outsourcing of cleaning, RMT says, is part of a broader pattern of corporate capture at TfL. It points to the recent re-privatisation of London Overground through an eight-year contract awarded to FirstGroup.
The union’s general secretary Eddie Dempsey said, “TfL executives who work hand-in-glove with outsourcing and transport company bosses are shaping policy to suit corporate interests, at the expense of Londoners.”
RMT has called on the London Assembly to launch a formal inquiry into the extent of corporate influence over TfL, including its relationships with outsourcing firms and private transport operators.
Other struggles
Other London rail workers are also fighting the impact of outsourcing. Dockland Light Railway cleaners took strike action after Bidvest Noonan continued to deny proper company sick pay amid RMT accusations of bullying behaviour by local management. The workers joined the Mitie protest – they were on strike that day.
And infrastructure workers, including signalling and telecoms staff, on the London Underground East London Line, are in battle with Cleshar CS Ltd over pay and conditions.