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 over 17,000 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.

The 2025 election for President and Treasurer was held in April 2025, but later TSSA announced the presidential election would be re-run and the re-run finished in October 2025. In January 2026, Adam Wilson was listed as President and Mary Sithole as Treasurer.

In 2025, the GMB union represented TSSA staff in an internal industrial dispute. The GMB stated that a staff survey had found 90% of TSSA employees described the TSSA as a "psychologically unsafe" place to work, with the TSSA acknowledging morale amongst staff was low. The Guardian reported that a GMB representative in TSSA had been suspended for trade union activities.

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 2025: Adam Wilson

Treasurers 1906: J. M. Roberts 1920: W. E. Williams 1927: Arnold Townend 1934: Frederick Watkins MP 1937: Percy Morris 1943: James Haworth MP 1953: Ray 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

References

External links

TSSA British website TSSA Irish website Single or Return - the official history of the TSSA Catalogue of the TSSA archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick