TSSA rail union ignores own rules to disenfranchise pensioner members

The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) rail union boss Maryam Eslamdoust has been accused of continuing her war on her own staff, members, and democracy after the union broke its own rules to cut retired union members out of its structures and conference votes.

Eslamdoust is despised by TSSA members and staff, who accuse her of bullying, victimisation of staff and representatives, and of anti-union tactics when they organise against her. Branches have voted overwhelmingly for motions of no confidence in her. Reps in the union’s biggest branch, Network Rail voted unanimously last month for her removal – just the latest in a string of no-confidence votes after repeated anti-union attacks on staff and the GMB union that represents them at work.

Eslamdoust even went repeatedly to the Guardian to attack the GMB – and then de-recognised it as the staff’s workplace union. Eslamdoust demanded the GMB prioritise her feelings over their members’ needs.

The years-long scandal has included attacks on TSSA’s internal democracy. She and her team have twice annulled elections in which members had voted her rivals into the key positions of treasurer and president. And on the same day as the latest unanimous vote against her, TSSA declared her ally as the new, uncontested treasurer after again suspending the candidate who beat her. Eslamdoust and her supporters also wrecked the union’s conference to prevent another no-confidence vote.

TSSA further splinters

Now, they have staged another attack on the voting rights of members – by unilaterally closing all but one of the union’s retired branches.

Eslamdoust has moved all TSSA’s retired members from their existing branches into a single branch for the whole UK. The immediate effect of this imposed decision is to reduce the five delegates that the five previous branches could send to the union’s conference down to a single delegate. It also cuts the number of motions they can bring from ten to just two. It has been done without any conference vote or approval by the union’s various divisional councils and the officers holding roles in the original branches have been summarily removed from their positions.

The move is in breach of the TSSA rulebook and was imposed without warning at a weekend, preventing any opportunity to oppose it before it was a done deal.

Former TSSA assistant general secretary Steve Coe has been expelled from the union for blowing the whistle on the actions of Eslamdoust and her cronies. He posted to his personal social media about the latest assault on democracy that:

I hear that the TSSA Executive Committee has once again decided to ignore the union conference policy, and rig Rule Book and Annual Conference. ​And apparently discrimination on grounds of age is ok with the leadership!!

A retired member quickly responded to confirm the impact:

My branch has been dissolved deleted destroyed which ever you prefer fact no longer on the website!

Eslamdoust claims she is being criticised by staff and members because she is female.

TSSA has not responded to a Skwawkbox media enquiry since 2024.

Featured image via the Canary