Staff of the TSSA rail union are again on strike over what they allege has been relentless, longstanding bullying, intimidation, victimisation and anti-union behaviour by general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust’s management. The latter supposedly took over to sort out the union following the sacking of disgraced former general secretary Manuel Cortes.
A staggering 86% of staff voted in favour of strike action, on a high turnout of 73%. The latest strike action will be the second time that TSSA staff have taken industrial action over bullying and intimidation and a lack of fair process. The previous strike action last summer saw the rail union close for fifteen days with picket lines outside TSSA’s central London office – which Eslamdoust was accused of crossing. The strike is the latest instalment in the chaos and bitterness in the TSSA that have also seen the management cancelling and delaying election results for senior roles that went against Eslamdoust’s allies.
TSSA rail union whistleblower
One of Eslamdoust’s most fearless critics has been retired TSSA assistant general secretary (AGS) Steve Coe, who has gone on record repeatedly to blow the whistle with allegations substantiating the complaints of staff and members. Now Eslamdoust and her allies have expelled Coe from the union, explicitly for speaking out. Coe confirmed that he would be appealing the decision:
CANCELLED!
The @TSSAunion leadership has expelled me from membership of the union.
I WILL be appealing against this decision to Annual Conference 2026. I am confident that delegates to Annual Conference will take an unbiased and objective view and vote in favour of my appeal.
— Steve Coe (@stevecoe1057) November 23, 2025
And, the letter the union sent to him advising him of his expulsion reads:
Specifically, one section of the letter accuses Coe of having;
gone on the record making derogatory statements to The Telegraph, Skwawkbox and The Daily Mail towards TSSA and its members.
‘Outright lies’
Coe has now spoken out on the suspension, which Skwawkbox understands was widely known among union staff before he was told of it, and has condemned the expulsion letter as a tissue of “outright lies” and “inaccuracies”. In a post on his Facebook profile, Coe also said that the union had abdicated its obligations to properly investigate, yet continued to charge him his membership dues after expelling him:
CANCELLED!
The TSSA leadership has expelled me from membership of the union. But that didn’t stop them from debiting my bank account for a month’s worth of subscriptions the following day!!!
This letter is full of inaccuracies and downright lies. The complete failure of the Executive Committee to carry out any investigation is outrageous, and is clearly contrary to the principles of natural justice.
The “instructions” in the penultimate paragraph are laughable. Who do these people think they are?!!!
I WILL be appealing against this decision to Annual Conference 2026, an appeal I expect to win since I am very confident that the TSSA membership and the delegates to Annual Conference will take an unbiased and objective view and vote accordingly.
GMB union reps representing TSSA staff members have accused Eslamdoust of adding to the abuse that staff say has led to their strike action by unlawfully taking anti-union action against those taking it, by:
- victimisating them for undertaking a union action
- breaching the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act, which says that employers must still pay sick pay to employees off sick during a strike – they can investigate if they suspect the sick leave was not genuine but cannot arbitrarily withhold – by refusing to recognise sick notes during the strike period
- unreasonably heaping additional work onto staff even without ‘ASOS’ (action short of a strike) by demanding work logs and timesheets
- varying custom and practice in the workplace.
Avoidable chaos
A winning candidate in last summer’s elections for the union’s president and treasurer positions was suspended immediately after the ballot, with insiders – including Coe – saying that he and his left-wing fellow candidate had handsomely beaten Eslamdoust’s preferred picks. A re-run of the presidential election was first extended after it became clear a new anti-establishment candidate was winning, then the announcement of that result was delayed before Eslamdoust eventually had to announce that he had won. The TSSA has also indefinitely delayed the union’s reconvened conference, where furious delegates wanted to address these issues.
The TSSA is in entirely avoidable chaos. Skwawkbox has contacted the union about these issues previously, without reply for some time.
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