Transport Salaried Staffs' Association

TSSA's former headquarters in London

Individual members are allocated to branches. Historically branches were organised geographically and by grade, e.g. Liverpool; Dublin No. 1; Crewe No. 4 Technical; Crewe Management Staffs (the separate branches for different grades of staff were so that people with grievances against their managers wouldn't find those same managers as members of their branch). In Ireland, branches are still organised on this basis, but in the UK starting in 1998 there was a reorganisation such that members of most branches are employed by a single company e.g. Virgin Midlands - this was required in the fragmented world of the privatised railway because the private companies would not allow access for non-employees onto their premises.

Branches are in turn allocated to divisions - there are 14 geographical divisions, plus one for London Transport. Each division has a Divisional Council which meets at least twice a year, and members in each division elect a member of the Executive Committee (EC). EC members are elected for a three-year term, subject to a maximum of two consecutive terms of office (but can stand again after 3 years off the committee). The Executive Committee meets approximately ten times a year in London and continuously during the three-day annual conference held each May or June. The EC is responsible for the efficient running of the union, the employment of staff (of whom there are about 40), the oversight of the union's finances, and the implementation of decisions of Annual Conference.

The Annual Conference is the supreme decision-making body of the union. Each branch may send one delegate to the Conference, unless a branch has more than 200 members, in which case it has two delegates. Each branch can submit two motions and two amendments to motions to the Conference Agenda, and once every five years can submit two amendments to the union's Rule Book.

Organisation in Ireland is slightly different. The whole of Ireland forms one Division. As trade union law in the Republic of Ireland forbids trade unions being run by people not resident on the island of Ireland, the EC and Annual Conference cannot directly control the association's activity in the republic as they do in Britain. Instead, the Irish Divisional Council is constituted as the Irish Committee and chaired by the EC member for Ireland, and it operates in a similar manner to the EC. There is a biennial Irish Conference of delegates from all the Irish branches, to set policy solely relating to Ireland. When Irish branches want the Annual Conference to do something, motions to Annual Conference are normally phrased as 'requests' that the Irish Committee consider doing something rather than as the more normal 'instructions' that the Executive Committee do something.

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.[3]

The early years were difficult. The third General Secretary, John Stopford-Challener, shot himself in Paris's Bois de Boulogne in 1906; it was only after his suicide that it was discovered that he had absconded with the union's money. After this came the era of A.G. Walkden, who as General Secretary for 30 years led the union to the peak of its influence; the head office in London, built in the early 1960s, was named after him. The railway companies refused to recognise the trade unions until after the strike of 1919, but after that time membership rose steadily, to a peak of some 91,500 in the early 1950s. The subsequent closure of uneconomic railway lines, the Beeching axe, and especially the computerisation of railway offices led to large scale reductions in the eligible membership. Membership was around 75,000 in 1970, 71,000 in 1980, and 39,000 in 1990. There was a rapid loss of around 25% of its membership in the mid to late 1990s because the grades of staff covered by the union were the ones hardest hit when British Rail was broken up from 1994 onwards; however the Executive Committee adopted a policy of seeking to vigorously recruit additional members particularly in those areas such as travel agencies which had not been the principal focus of the union in the past. This has led to more stable membership figures, including a small increase at the turn of the century.[4]

The union has been involved in at least one London Underground strike, between 6 and 7 September 2010.[5]

In July 2015, TSSA endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election.[6] TSSA National Political Officer, Sam Tarry spearheaded Corbyn's second leadership campaign.[7]

In 2018, preparatory work for the HS2 railway meant that the TSSA had to vacate its head office since the 1960s, at Walkden House in Melton Street, adjacent to London's Euston Station, and moved to a new head office in Devonshire Square, near Liverpool Street Station.

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.[8][9] In January 2022, union representatives voted by 88% to agree to the merger,[10] the union would start to ballot members from 8 February 2022. However the merger fell through in August 2022.

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 claims that he has no memory of the evening due to excessive drinking. The injunction forbids the woman from talking about the alleged harassment and bullying.[11] Later on 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,[12] with Manuel Cortes resigning with immediate effect a month later.[13] 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.[14] An earlier critical report which concluded that equality, diversity and inclusion objectives were not being met was not made public until February 2023.[15][16]

TSSA was keen to ensure that the recommendations of the Kennedy and Conley reports were followed. The President and Treasurer resigned on the day of the Kennedy report's publication, replaced by Marios Alexandrou and Nicola Jukes respectively. The Executive Committee suspended five members of senior staff, later that week, and dismissed Manuel Cortes and Luke Chester two weeks later. An Interim (Joint) General Secretary, Peter Pendle was appointed later the same month. A Change Management Group was set up with representatives from the staff body and the Executive Committee, as well as the Interim (joint) General Secretary, Peter Pendle and HR manager.

In May 2023 TSSA members elected a new President, Melissa Heywood, and Treasurer, Mary Sithole.[17] This was the first time TSSA had elected women to both National Officer positions at the same time.

From 1918 until 1992, the union sponsored a large number of Labour Party candidates, many of whom won election.

• TSSA British website
• TSSA Irish website Archived 10 February 2003 at the Wayback Machine
• Single or Return - the official history of the TSSA Archived 14 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
• Catalogue of the TSSA archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick