RAIL union RMT has demanded that Transport for London (TfL) drop plans to extend a £700m outsourced cleaning contract.

The union’s general secretary, Eddie Dempsey, wrote to the Mayor of London and TfL board today stating that he is “concerned” that the mayor “may have been misled as to his options.”

RMT said it had been in formal discussions with TfL over the possibility of bringing the cleaning contract back in-house following Mayor Sadiq Khan’s instruction in October 2024. According to the union, the process was delayed until June and halted after only two meetings.

Mr Dempsey said that in August the union was “informed by the mayor that TfL had told him it was now too late to stop the re-tendering process and that no further contract extension could take place.”

He added: “Advice from King’s Counsel suggests that this guidance was not accurate and that the mayor has been acting under a misunderstanding of the options available to him.”

RMT said legal advice indicated that a contracting authority enjoys a “very broad discretion” when it comes to decisions to abandon a contract award procedure and provide the service in-house, provided a contract has not been signed.

Mr Dempsey said: “This is a major TfL service employing upwards of 2,000 staff and if it is tendered out it, will be a contract worth £700 million over five years.”

He says the workers’ treatment under outsourcing firm ABM “is a continuing stain on the reputation of TfL.

“The cleaners are denied a decent pension in retirement and left to depend on pension credit, denied sick pay and overworked to make up for destaffing to subsidise ABM’s profits.”

TfL and the mayor have been contacted for comment.