# Transport Salaried Staffs' Association

The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) is a trade union for workers in the transport and travel industries in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Its head office is in London, and it has regional offices in Bristol, Derby, Dublin, York and Glasgow.
TSSA has approximately 18,000 members in the UK and Ireland. While principally a union for people in the railway industry, the effect of the nationalisation and subsequent privatisations following the Second World War has meant that it has members working for railway companies, shipping companies, bus companies, travel agencies, airlines, call centres, and IT companies.

## History

The union was founded in Sheffield in 1897 as the National Association of General Railway Clerks, although it was a narrow decision to found the union. The railway companies were strongly opposed to trade unions and two earlier attempts to form a clerks' union had failed and, discouraged, the organisers decided by a majority of only one vote to try a third time - this time successfully. In 1899 it was renamed the Railway Clerks' Association (RCA), and in 1951 it adopted its current name.
The union has been involved in at least one London Underground strike, between 6 and 7 September 2010.
In July 2015, TSSA endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election. TSSA National Political Officer, Sam Tarry spearheaded Corbyn's second leadership campaign.
In September 2021, TSSA announced that it was in talks about merging the union with the North American Boilermakers Union with the viewpoint of completing the merger by 1 July 2022. In January 2022, union representatives voted by 88% to agree to the merger, however the Boilermakers withdrew from the merger later in the year.
In early 2022, the union was granted an injunction on an employee who has accused Manuel Cortes, the general secretary of the TSSA of sexual harassment and of bullying by senior staff members. Cortes claimed that he had no memory of the evening due to excessive drinking. The injunction forbade the woman from talking about the alleged harassment and bullying. Later that year an inquiry was opened into the union, led by Helena Kennedy KC, to examine allegations of sexual harassment and bullying towards women within the union, with Manuel Cortes resigning with immediate effect a month later. The Kennedy inquiry reported in February 2023 that the union had seen a culture of sexual harassment and sexual assault over the course of several years along with coercive behaviour. Kennedy called for several senior leaders of the union to resign and that external auditors should be brought in to examine the union's finances. An earlier critical report which concluded that equality, diversity and inclusion objectives were not being met was not made public until February 2023.
In May 2023 TSSA members elected a new President, Melissa Heywood, and Treasurer, Mary Sithole. This was the first time TSSA had elected women to both National Officer positions at the same time. Later in 2023 TSSA members elected a new General Secretary, Maryam Eslamdoust, who was the first woman and the first person of colour to hold the post.

## Office holders
### General Secretaries

    1897: Charles Bassett-Vincent
    1898: John Hereford
    1898: F. Parrish (acting)
    1899: John Stopford Challener
    1906: William J. West (acting)
    1906: Alexander Walkden
    1936: William Stott
    1940: Charles Gallie
    1947: Fred Bostock
    1948: Percy Heady (acting)
    1949: George Thorneycroft
    1953: Bill Webber
    1963: John Bothwell
    1968: Percy Coldrick
    1973: David Mackenzie
    1977: Tom Bradley (acting)
    1977: Tom Jenkins
    1982: Bert Lyons
    1989: Richard Rosser
    2004: Gerry Doherty
    2011: Manuel Cortes
    2022: Frank Ward (acting)
    2023: Peter Pendle (Interim Joint General Secretary)
    2023: Maryam Eslamdoust

### Presidents

    1897: J. Batty Langley
    1899: W. D. Leaver
    1900: Fortescue Flannery
    1906: William J. West
    1908: George Lathan
    1912: Herbert Romeril
    1916: W. E. Williams
    1919: Harry Gill
    1932: Fred Simpson
    1937: Frederick Watkins
    1943: Percy Morris
    1953: James Haworth
    1956: Ray Gunter
    1964: Tom Bradley
    1977: Walter Johnson
    1981: Jim Mills
    1987: Geoff Henman
    1993: Brenda Hanks
    1997: David Horton
    2001: David Porter
    2005: Andy Bain
    2011: Harriet Yeo
    2013: Mick Carney
    2023: Marios Alexandrou
    2023: Melissa Heywood

### Treasurers

    1906: J. M. Roberts
    1920: W. E. Williams
    1927: Arnold Ernest Townend
    1934: Frederick Watkins MP
    1937: Percy Morris
    1943: James Haworth MP
    1953: Ray J. Gunter MP
    1956: Lord Lindgren
    1961: Tom G. Bradley MP
    1965: Walter Johnson MP
    1977: Jock Newall (acting)
    1977: Jim Mills
    1981: Stanley Cohen MP
    1984: Geoff Henman
    1987: Brenda Hanks
    1993: Peter Holloway (acting)
    1993: David Horton
    1997: David Porter
    2001: Annie Breen
    2004: Amarjit Singh (acting)
    2004: Andy Bain
    2005: Harriet Yeo
    2011: Mick Carney
    2013: Andy Bain
    2015: Jason Turvey
    2019: Al Stoten
    2023: Nicola Jukes
    2023: Mary Sithole