The London Assembly has called on Tube Lines to lift cleaners out of poverty. A motion tabled by Murad demanded that cleaners working on the tube network all be paid a minimum of £7.20 an hour; the London Living Wage.

Whilst the administrator of tube infrastructure company Metronet is committed to paying at least the London Living Wage, cleaners contracted to work for the other infrastructure company Tube Lines are paid just £5.52 an hour, well below the minimum needed to live free of poverty in London.

The London Assembly supported Murad’s motion urging Tube Lines to follow Metronet’s example and raise pay rates for cleaners.

Murad urged Tube Lines to end poverty pay for their staff:

"Cleaners on the tube provide a valuable service and deserve a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. Every Londoner knows our city is an expensive place to live and, like everyone else, cleaners cannot be expected to meet the costs of living here on rates of pay barely above the national minimum wage. How can Tube Lines justify a cleaner on the Jubilee line being paid nearly two pounds an hour less than a cleaner working on the District Line."

The full text of the motion reads as follows:

"This Assembly supports the promotion of the London Living Wage, which on account primarily of housing costs represents a viable minimum wage level in London some £2 greater than the national minimum wage. We note that it is to be extended to cleaners working directly or through contractors for the Metronet Consortium and urge Tube Lines to follow a similar course."