reform
Exclusive: TSSA exec member for Scotland quits over Eslamdoust behaviour
Anger grows at union general secretary and president ‘losing the plot’
The TSSA union’s executive member for Scotland has resigned his post with a blast at the union’s general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust and its president Melissa Heywood.
Martin Hartley announced the news in an email this morning to all TSSA’s Scottish reps and members:
To Scotland Reps and Active members:
After some very careful consideration, I have decided to resign from my post as the TSSA Scotland Executive Committee member.
I joined the Executive Committee team in 2019 for my first 3 year term in one of the most senior roles within a trade union. I hope I contributed to decision making on strategy, financial matters, campaign and political matters to the best of my ability. I was successful re-elected to start my second and final 3 year term in 2022. I went through some turbulent times during my tenure, first of all
Covid 19 and the challenges of ensuring the TSSA negotiated favourable safeguards for the members’ employers to put in place for both health safety and industrial matters.Secondly I was faced, along with my EC colleagues, the damning Kennedy and Connelly reports into the misdemeanours of the previous General Secretary and senior leadership and the fallout of that.
Unfortunately I have now been struggling with another senior leadership team who has pulled apart all the good work that the interim President and interim Assistant General Secretary put in place following those two reports.
We are now facing an industrial dispute with our full time paid staff, along with several members of full time staff suspended, and members suspended simply because they challenge the current General Secretary’s decisions and further allegations of bullying and harassment from various corners of the union and voice their opinions.
I no longer feel that I can work collectively with the EC who I feel are making decisions under the direction of The President and General Secretary against my moral personal values.
Please do not think I have any issue with female leadership, I have no problem with anyone from any background doing any job, but they must have the right skillset to do that job.
TSSA staff are balloting for strike action and have alleged continuing abuse under Eslamdoust, who was nominated as the executive’s preferred candidate for general secretary despite what appears to be a complete lack of relevant experience.
A new ‘MeTU’ video and statement released in February accused the new TSSA management of ‘summarily de-recognis[ing]’ the union’s Self-Organised Women’s Group, continuing a ‘culture of intimidation and bullying… and cronyism’ – and alleged that Eslamdoust’s election as general secretary had been “gerrymandered by an EC who were close to the old regime”. Eslamdoust attacked Skwawkbox during the general secretary election for scrutinising her and her supporters’ campaign claims that she had ‘high level trade union experience’.
And last week, Eslamdoust was slammed for an article in the Guardian in which she claims that the GMB is using ‘bullyboy tactics’ to try to take over TSSA – and attempts to blame the other union for her and her team’s alleged complete failure to take meaningful action to implement the recommendations of Baroness Kennedy’s report on widespread bullying and sexual harassment in TSSA under former general secretary Manuel Cortes. The outburst led to staff and a former assistant general secretary accusing her of losing the plot.
Ms Eslamdoust and Ms Heywood have so far not responded to requests for comment about the strike ballot and the outrage of staff.
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Labour front bench takes £650k from health privateers – more than Tories
Starmer and co rake in cash from private health donors – twenty-five percent more than the Tories
Keir Starmer and his front bench MPs have taken almost £650,000 from private health companies, according to a compilation of their declarations of MPs’ interests.
The totals accepted by MPs in Starmer’s Shadow Cabinet between 2020 and 2023 are:
- Keir Starmer £157,500
- Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting £193,225
- Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper £231,817
- Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves £14,840
- Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner £50,000
- Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy £1,640
- Total £649,022
Figures compiled by David Powell
The total accepted by Labour beats similar donations to the Tories by around twenty-five percent. Starmer and his health spokesman Streeting have vowed to extend the use of private companies for NHS services if Labour gets into government, while promising further austerity and refusing to say they will increase NHS funding to meet need, or increase wages for NHS staff, instead saying – just like Tories – that the NHS must ‘reform’ to be ‘sustainable’.
Both are also fully committed to the ‘Integrated Care’ programme of health rationing and incentivised cuts through withholding care – a direct import from disastrous US healthcare – that is wrecking the NHS even more thoroughly that previous Tory ‘reforms’.
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RMT rep: the train operating company offer is a con members should vote to reject it
Effective pay cuts and continued downgrading and job losses – rail union insider reveals grim reality of offer being put to a vote among RMT members
Written by an RMT official and published on condition of anonymity.
Rail workers should vote down the pay offer.
Why should we vote No? The reasons are clear. A 5% pay rise for the year 22/23 is a pay cut in real terms; we had no pay settlement in 2021-22 at all. Rail workers were sent out during Covid, with little protection, to keep the country running. Some of us died. We barely received so much as a ‘Thank You’, let alone any financial remuneration for the risks we ran, or the effort we put in to keep the nation moving.
For the last year UK inflation has been at 10%+ for seven months out of twelve. This offer is derisory and should have been rejected out of hand. A settlement of at least 15% is needed just to keep members where they were in 2021.
A worse offer than was already on the table
The RDG [Rail Delivery Group of train operators], directed by the government for political expediency, have been forced to remove their destructive Workplace Reform proposals from the table. Their previous offer of 5% up front and 4% to negotiate those proposals has been fulfilled by the union side, yet this offer is even worse than that. Indeed it is significantly less than other public sector workers who have received settlements of up to 7% this year – but also had raises in 2021 and 2022 which we have been denied.
Despite the resounding rejection of government proposals by Travelwatch and Transport Focus, Workplace Reform remains on the table. The ‘no compulsory redundancy’ guarantees to December 2024 are so short as to be less of a promise and more of a threat.
The intention clearly is to return to cutting 30% of Station grades staff, one way or another. This cannot be acceptable to us. The opportunity to close ticket offices entirely may have gone, but they will be hollowed out and the reduction in quality of service that they provide will then be used as a reason for closure at some point in the future. Other station grades will be de-skilled and only some individuals selected for multiskilling – and their numbers worse than decimated too. Members’ Terms & Conditions and their pensions and benefits are under attack from this process.
Too much haste; dangerous proposals
The timescale is unduly hasty, too: TOCs’ [train operating companies] plans given to the unions in July would have shamed a plan sketched on the back of a fag packet after closing time and would have seen an increase in single staffing in all stations, to a critical level detrimental to the service and the safe operation of the railway.
If members vote yes then they are voting for 2023/ 24 pay to be based on the Workplace Reform proposals that the employers want. This will result in significant job losses of 30% across all station grades. Although none of it has been agreed the principle will be considered agreed by the votes in favour of the offer. Detail will be added later, guaranteed to be a disaster for members.
The 2023/24 pay offer will not be made unless Grades Councils agree to the employers’ demands. A big question members should ask themselves before they vote is, who in the RMT is negotiating for you with your TOC? This will be at Council level, not National. What skills and proven results do they have?
Any TOC going into dispute over 2023 /2024 pay will be on their own. This division is not in our favour. Acceptance will mean the National dispute is over, regardless of the mandate delivered by members in the recent re-ballot. The promise of back pay has been used to distract members from the negatives; a few pounds in the hand before Christmas used to blindside members.
The RDG offer will end the current dispute if we accept it. Rail workers currently have an extremely strong negotiating position. We are six weeks from Christmas and have a six-month mandate for industrial action. Returning an emphatic ‘No’ vote would strengthen this position as we would be able to return to the RDG and demand a significant improvement to the offer on the table.
If you’ve already voted to accept, you can change your vote
Members can change their vote even if they have already voted, right up until the closing date, by following the link in the original email they were sent.
Please lobby all your members.
Vote NO.
Skwawkbox understands that the deal being put to a member vote by the RMT would still involve major redundancies among ticket office staff – but that rail reps have been pleasantly surprised by the negative reaction to the offer among grassroots members.
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