RMT union members will rally outside London’s City Hall on Thursday to demand that all Tube cleaning contracts be brought in-house.

A recent survey by the union found that 80 per cent of outsourced rail cleaners struggle to make ends meet.

Some 80 to 90 per cent worry about their bills every month, fear for their retirement and feel pressure to work when sick, with outsourced workers receiving no sick pay and only the legal minimum pension contribution.

The union is calling on the city’s mayor Sadiq Khan and Transport for London (TfL) to halt the retendering of contracts to private firms so that the cleaners are no longer denied the basic standards that other TfL staff receive.

The union understands the bidders on the contracts are ABM and Mitie, which it says have long records of dividend extraction and exploiting outsourced workers.

According to the RMT, ABM’s US parent company extracted £30 million in dividends from its operations in Britain last year alone, while Mitie has shelled out £290m in dividends to its shareholders since 2014.

RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said: “London Underground cleaners do a tremendous job keeping our capital’s Tube going every single day. However, they are still denied sick pay, still on poverty pensions and still outsourced to companies whose priority is extracting profit.

“This is a lingering injustice that must be addressed. It is outrageous that millions of pounds of public money are being siphoned off in dividends while cleaners worry about paying their bills or feel pressured to work when they are sick.”

TfL and the mayor of London were contacted for comment.