Burnham-backing union boss accused of rigging elections

The boss of an Andy Burnham-backing trade union has been accused of rigging its elections so she can keep her seat at Labour’s top table. Maryam Eslamdoust, the general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staff’s Association (TSSA), has been accused of suspending a key rival immediately before internal polls opened. Paul Mangan, a union activist working at Network Rail, had been standing for treasurer – a post that, in the TSSA, has powers rivalling those of the general secretary.

The rift reveals the lengths to which some in the Labour-affiliated union are allegedly prepared to go to in order to control a seat on one of the political party’s policy-setting bodies. General secretaries of the TSSA are granted a seat on the Trade Union Liaison Organisation, a Labour Party body composed of trade union leaders, which has a key role in setting the party’s policies on issues such as taxation, employment and the economy.

TULO meetings are jointly chaired by one of the 11 union bosses who form its members, and the Prime Minister in his capacity as Labour leader. Union insiders have claimed that Ms Eslamdoust is more interested in “grandstanding with Labour” than representing its members as their jobs are merged into Great British Railways . “Maryam is not a trade unionist,” one told The Telegraph. “She is obsessed with the Labour Party and backing Burnham .”

Ms Eslamdoust praised the Prime Minister as somebody who “gets it” after the Labour conference in September. After October’s Budget, she said: “TSSA supports the overall direction of travel being taken by [Chancellor] John Healey and Andy Burnham in defending living standards in the face of rising inflation.” It is alleged that the perceived need to keep control of the TSSA, and thus her seat on TULO, has caused Ms Eslamdoust to start taking questionable measures.

Three sources claimed that the TSSA chief suspended Mr Mangan two days before elections opened in January – something the union denied, saying a committee, rather than Ms Eslamdoust alone, had made the decision. With only one other candidate standing in that election, the suspension effectively gave the post to a person within Ms Eslamdoust’s political camp who had no interest in challenging her, The Telegraph was told. Only two posts within the TSSA – those of president and treasurer – can call meetings of its executive committee, which has the power to suspend the general secretary.

With the president post currently vacant, a dissenter holding the treasurer post could have dethroned Ms Eslamdoust. All three insiders said that the complaint against Mr Mangan, related to an internal workplace matter, had already been investigated by Network Rail, which cleared him of wrongdoing. TSSA’s internal structure ‘disintegrating’ The Telegraph has also seen messages from inside the union describing how its internal structures are disintegrating while its general secretary focuses her attention on Labour Party politics.

One, signed by four of the 10-strong TSSA executive committee and widely circulated on Facebook in October, said: “The EC is currently unable to function effectively. Meetings are not being convened, important business remains outstanding, and decisions requiring the EC’s collective consideration are being delayed. “This situation is preventing us, as elected EC members, from fully exercising our responsibilities under the TSSA rule book and providing the oversight and accountability that members rightly expect.

“We have raised these concerns internally and sought to resolve them, but the situation remains unchanged.” The TSSA represents office staff and junior managers working on the railways, which are undergoing their biggest shake-up in 30 years as the Government seizes control of them from the private sector. A TSSA spokesman described suggestions that the union was failing to function as “pure fabrication” and said that claims the complaint against Mr Mangan was fabricated by Ms Eslamdoust and her TSSA faction were “categorically false”.

“TSSA is a Labour-affiliated union that engages at all levels of the party to promote our members’ interests,” the spokesman said. “This has included recent talks with the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street, as part of the wider trade union movement’s transparent relationship with the party. “The TSSA General Secretary is focused on transport workers’ jobs, pay, safety, terms and conditions. The union takes all allegations of misconduct seriously and will investigate complaints and will take robust action where necessary.”

Mr Mangan’s spokesman declined to comment. Ms Eslamdoust did not respond to a request for comment.