A Labour-affiliated trade union that was found to have fostered a culture of sexual harassment and coercion over more than a decade is facing new allegations of bullying.
A leaked letter shows that staff at the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) claim to be working in a “toxic environment”, leaving many with anxiety and hypervigilance.
Their representatives are calling for the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service to intervene, claiming there has been an “abject failure” to follow procedures on bullying. Insiders say there have been three new allegations in recent months.
Last year, the TSSA was overhauled and a group of senior figures stood down after an independent report by Helena Kennedy KC. The general secretary of 11 years, Manuel Cortes, was dismissed for gross misconduct.
Lady Kennedy concluded that women were subject to sexual touching and manipulative behaviour over many years. She also heard evidence of failings in due process, natural justice and governance.
A TSSA insider rejected the allegations and said specific details had not been put to the union by staff reps.
A leaked letter sent to the new general secretary, Maryam Eslamdoust, from GMB London, which represents about 50 TSSA staff, demands to know why the recommendations of the Kennedy report have not been implemented in full.
“Among the staff, there is now an atmosphere of anxiety, hypervigilance and worry. The trust in the leadership that was burgeoning has completely collapsed and in general, staff are once again feeling demoralised, ignored, distrusted and exhausted from the pressures and strains of working in this … toxic environment,” GMB London’s regional organiser, Andrew Harden, wrote on 15 January.
Harden wrote that there had been “an abject failure to follow agreed procedure and protocols regarding staff complaints made about bullying”; that the general secretary was not meeting with the staff reps every week; and that staff appointments were not following proper procedure.
The Guardian first made public the allegations against Cortes in May 2022 after the union enforced a non-disclosure agreement to stop a TSSA organiser from repeating claims that she was harassed by Cortes in 2018. Cortes denied the claims and apologised for any hurt caused by his behaviour.
Weeks later, other women, including the former organisers Maggie Hayes and Hannah Plant, came forward to say they had witnessed inappropriate behaviour.
The Kennedy inquiry was launched in September 2022. After interviewing more than 50 former and current staff, Kennedy wrote: “It gave me no pleasure to uncover a series of appalling incidents, alongside leadership and management failings in the TSSA.
“Some of this behaviour was actually witnessed – or heard – directly by me.”
Managers at the union were controlling, hierarchical and bullying, she said. “The leadership seem to see staff as a problem. I have heard that people in the organisation have been described by senior staff as ‘useless cunts.’”
At the annual conference in June, Cortes made a direct appeal to members to have his dismissal overturned. Having pleaded his case via video link to the conference, he made the surprising decision to take off his shirt on camera while waiting for votes to be counted. The members rejected his appeal.
Eslamdoust was elected in October and previously worked for Jeremy Corbyn as a Labour party staffer. With her 12 years of experience as a councillor in north London, Eslamdoust’s election was seen as bringing in an outsider to help clear up the union’s procedures and reputation.
A TSSA spokesperson said: “The union does not comment on ongoing staff matters. However, we are clear that all the recommendations made by Baroness Kennedy, and by Prof [Hazel] Conley [who published a separate report on the TSSA’s equality policy and practice in February 2023], have either been completed or are being acted on.
“As we said at the time of the Kennedy report publication, TSSA is committed to implementing the widespread change needed. That remans the case.”
