Cash settlements – including for non-disclosure agreement previously condemned by union – and gold medals awarded to staff suspended or sacked in wake of report on sexual harassment
The TSSA rail union has been mired in controversies and anger among the union’s staff and membership over the conduct of its general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust. Staff have voted unanimously in support of a no-confidence motion against Eslamdoust, one of the union’s biggest branches has done the same, senior union figures who have spoken critically of her actions have been summarily suspended just after receiving major union awards or being elected to senior positions and at least one staff member has allegedly been victimised.
Staff are currently engaged in an escalating strike campaign against what they say is a continuation, under Eslamdoust, of the bullying, abuse and intimidation that was exposed under former general secretary Manuel Cortes – and they have accused Eslamdoust of crossing their picket line on the first day of strike action.
The new general secretary has even written to TSSA members attacking union staff, wrote a column in a newspaper accusing the union that represents TSSA staff at work of trying to take over TSSA and has tried to bypass striking staff and negotiate an end to the dispute directly with the GMB union’s management. The union’s conference descended into chaos earlier this month after more than half of delegates – seemingly those critical of Eslamdoust – were prevented from entering and a conference no-confidence motion was blocked from debate and a vote.
And now Skwawkbox has learned of allegations, in what staff and members say is heaping insult on injury, that the union has made a string of awards to former senior figures who were suspended or sacked in the wake of Baroness Kennedy’s damning report on the culture of abuse, bullying and sexual harassment of the Cortes regime:
- Luke Chester, Cortes’s ‘anointed successor’, who was sacked in the wake of Kennedy’s findings of sexual harassment, is alleged to have been paid close to £100,000 to end his employment tribunal against the union – one that many have said he was considered to have little or no chance of winning
- Val Stansfield, the union’s former employment rights adviser who had spoken publicly in favour of banning the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), but allegedly used them on sexual harassment whistleblower Claire Laycock and others – and had been suspended on full pay for 16 months – is said to have received several tens of thousands of pounds to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Allegedly Stansfield had tendered her letter for retirement prior to being suspended but had been kept on full pay since February 2023 pending investigation. Staff have been told she simply ‘retired’
- Lorraine Ward, who along with her husband was a deputy general secretary of the union under Cortes, was off sick for a year from February 2022 but returned to work a few days after dropping to zero pay under the union’s sick pay scheme, is alleged to have now received a similarly hefty payment but without signing a non-disclosure agreement
- the TSSA’s former President and Treasurer, who resigned in the wake of the report, are alleged to be receiving gold medals for their service to the union
Skwawkbox contacted the TSSA for comment about these issues. A spokesperson for the union declined to comment on the payouts and awards and claimed that Eslamdoust was not involved in the decision to award the gold medals and that these are decided purely by branches nominating those they feel deserve them:
The union does not discuss staff issues. Gold medals are not decided by the General Secretary but come through nominations made by branches.
Maryam Eslamdoust was endorsed by the union’s executive despite apparently having no relevant experience. A former executive member has alleged that members were told there would be problems with a senior figure close to former general secretary Cortes if they did not endorse her and several have said they were told that she would ‘learn on the job’.
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