The hardline general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport union has taken the £10,000 salary increase, despite the painful pay freeze affecting millions of workers in both the public and private sectors.
His basic pay rose from £84,923 in 2008 to £94,747 at the end of last year, according to figures published by the RMT.
Fighting talk: Bob Crow, who is calling for sustained general strikes, has pocketed a 12 per cent pay rise
On top of this he claimed £9,989 in expenses and £2,376 in travel costs, taking his total income to £145,548.
The figures will anger millions of commuters and public transport users who have suffered massive disruption from a series of strikes called by Mr Crow.
Yesterday the RMT called yet another strike on the London Underground, which is expected to cause chaos for travellers over the bank holiday later this month.
Transport Minister Norman Baker said: ‘Bob Crow talks about fairness but this self-styled man of the people should be judged by his actions.
‘Crow seems more interested in feathering his own nest than working with Government to create an efficient cost effective rail service.’
A spokesman for London’s Mayor Boris Johnson last night also expressed astonishment at Mr Crow’s bumper pay rise.
He said: ‘Anyone delivering public services in the current climate who thinks they deserve a double digit pay rise is not living in the real world.’
Rail expert Christian Wolmar said: ‘Bob Crow is always talking about the hypocrisy of managers earning huge sums and I would have thought it was incumbent on him to bear the same fate as his members, most of whom are not getting a pay rise.
‘It is a pretty extraordinary decision and suggests that even in the RMT some animals are more equal than others.
‘He espouses a strong brand of socialism but I suspect it will be a very long time before everybody is earning £95,000 a year.’
But the RMT last night insisted Mr Crow was ‘worth every penny’. A spokesman said the pay rise had been approved by members at the union’s annual general meeting ‘to recognise his achievements in securing some very good pay and terms and conditions results’.
Travel mayhem: Queues for buses at Victoria during the last Tube strike
Mr Crow, 49, has carved out an unenviable reputation as Britain’s most militant union boss after leading rail and Tube workers on a seemingly endless series of high-profile walkouts.
Since his election in 2002, the former communist has been known for bullying style and lack of concern for the travelling public.
He once declared: ‘I’m not one of those union officials who continually say they regret inconvenience caused by industrial action.’
Transport chiefs in London fear he will threaten to cripple the Olympics in 2012 in a bid to extract even more cash for his well-paid members. The threat is taken so seriously that ministers are even considering tightening the union strike laws.
Mr Crow has also been at the forefront of calls for general strikes to destabilise the Government and force ministers to abandon a programme of cuts designed to tackle the economic crisis.
Last month he called on unions to launch ‘a sustained campaign of generalised strikes’ to fight the Government’s ‘fiscal fascism’.
He declared: ‘We say, “Don’t fear them. Fight them”. Our trade union has a slogan, “Never on our knees”.’
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