Rail union: Expelled whistleblower sues Eslamdoust for defamation

Former TSSA rail union assistant general secretary Steve Coe, who was expelled by the union’s current boss Maryam Eslamdoust for whistleblowing, is suing Eslamdoust after she emailed angry members claiming that he was expelled because he posed a risk to women.

Eslamdoust took over the union supposedly to put it right after her predecessor Manuel Cortes left in disgrace over sexual harassment and bullying claims — but promptly ‘de-recognised’ the union’s women’s section that had led the outcry that deposed Cortes. Now, in response to members’ anger, she has emailed them telling them that Coe was exposed for:

persistent breaches of TSSA standards, including behaviour that created risk and concern for women members.

Eslamdoust then denied that she had “intended her comments to be read as accusing Mr Coe of sexual harassment”.

Steve Coe — who has been an outspoken critic of and whistleblower about the allegations of abuse and bullying that have let to TSSA members engaging this month in their second all-out strike and work-to-rule in just a few months — responded in a social media post:

Following the decision of the TSSA Executive Committee to expel me from membership, the TSSA General Secretary Maryam Eslamdoust has sent a libellous letter to many TSSA members which amongst other things accuses me of “persistent breaches of TSSA standards, including behaviour that created risk and concern for women members”.

Interesting then that Ms Eslamdoust then denied to The Telegraph that she intended her comments to be read as accusing me of sexual harassment!

He went on to confirm that he had initiated legal action against Eslamdoust for defamation:

I am now pursuing a libel claim against Maryam Eslamdoust.

Coe is also taking TSSA to the union regulator over his expulsion, which he says denied natural justice as well as breaking union law.

Rail union—Self-inflicted chaos

Maryam Eslamdoust was recommended to TSSA members by the union’s executive despite an allegedly complete lack of relevant experience, after threats that they had “better select Eslamdoust or [they’d] have to answer to [close Cortes confidante Andi Fox”. The union has since fallen — many say it has been dragged — into complete chaos.

Eslamdoust and her team 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 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 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

Strike action

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

A staggering 86% of staff voted in favour of strike action, on a high turnout of 73% — the second time this year that TSSA staff have taken industrial action over bullying and intimidation and a lack of fair process. The previous strike action saw the rail union close for fifteen days with picket lines outside TSSA’s central London office — which Eslamdoust was accused of crossing. The strike is the latest instalment in the chaos and bitterness in the TSSA that have also seen the management cancelling and delaying election results for senior roles that went against Eslamdoust’s allies.

TSSA has not responded to media enquiries from Skwawkbox about these or other issues since June 2024. It has previously said that it does not comment on staff matters.

Featured image via Skwawkbox