TSSA rail union conference further postponed

The TSSA rail union has postponed its annual conference, which began in the summer. However, that conference was then adjourned, rather than ended, and was supposed to reconvene at the end of this month. Delegates were unwilling to close it until they could discuss both the union’s huge issues with staff strikes over alleged bullying and victimisation and the failure of the union to honour the results of elections for the key positions of president and treasurer.

Earlier this month, union figures told Skwawkbox that they expected general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust and her allies to use the renewed strike action by outraged TSSA staff – who voted by 86% to strike again over their complaints of mistreatment and intimidation by the management – to use the industrial action as a pretext for postponing the reconvened conference to ‘kick into the grass’ the inevitable questions and recriminations from delegates.

TSSA rail union turmoil

And, predictably, the union has circulated a message informing them that:

we are writing to inform you that the EC has taken the collective decision to postpone the reconvened Conference, which was scheduled to take place on Saturday 29 November.

The message continued:

Due to already significantly stretched internal resources, combined with unexpected staff illness affecting key teams, we are unable to provide the level of support required to properly facilitate the Conference at this time. In these circumstances, we cannot deliver the event to the standard that delegates rightly expect and deserve.

The EC hopes that by January some of the current challenges will have eased and will at that stage advise delegates on a future date for the reconvening of conference…

…We appreciate your understanding and patience, and we thank you for your continued engagement and commitment.

The announcement comes as members demand answers about the management’s manoeuvres during the summer to abort – as soon as voting closed – the elections held to choose the union’s new president and treasurer. Insiders have said that these elections had gone heavily against Eslamdoust’s preferred candidates. The union summarily suspended one of the winning candidates and withheld the official election outcome. Results of a barrister-led investigation ordered by TSSA have not been released and members complain that they have had no information about its progress or findings.

Internal disputes

The result of a new presidential election that closed in mid-October also went against Eslamdoust’s ally, with the long-delayed result only announced last week.

The TSSA has been riven by industrial disputes and outrage among staff, officers, and members since Maryam Eslamdoust took over with a promise to sort out the corruption and abuse that became endemic under disgraced former general secretary Manuel Cortes. She and her team, who were brought in and recommended to members by the TSSA executive despite having no relevant experience, and after alleged threats that they had ‘better select Eslamdoust or [they’d] have to answer to Andi Fox’, a senior TSSA figure and close confidante of previous general secretary Manuel Cortes, have:

been repeatedly accused by union staff, who have been in dispute with their employer for more than a year, of bullying and using anti-union tactics against them – and of crossing their picket line during strike action
been accused of paying off disgraced former managers of the union who she claimed she was going to sort out after years of sexual harassment and mismanagement under her predecessor Manuel Cortes
suspended senior union figures not in Eslamdoust’s camp just after they won key elections or awards from the union
lost a unanimous vote of no confidence among TSSA staff and another unanimous vote by one of TSSA’s biggest member branches
tried to bypass TSSA staff in their dispute by going straight to the GMB union that represents them at work
attacked the GMB in the national press, and then attacked striking staff in an email to members
‘summarily derecognised’ the TSSA’s women’s group, which accused Eslamdoust and her allies of perpetuating the abuse and harassment that characterised the regime of her predecessor Manuel Cortes
barred delegates and members from last year’s TSSA annual conference and blocked a no-confidence motion brought against her
attacked delegates at the 2025 conference as ‘parochial’ for wanting to raise these issues
been accused of breaking union laws in targeting staff after the latest strike action was declared

Members and staff say that far from putting right the sexual harassment, bullying, misogyny and abuse under Cortes, which were exposed in a searing report by Baroness Helena Kennedy, Eslamdoust and her allies have continued and even escalated the war on the union’s staff.

Featured image via the Canary