Transport Salaried Staffs' Association


The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association 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, Manchester, York and Glasgow.
TSSA has approximately 22,300 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.

Organisation

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. 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 members are elected for a three-year term, subject to a maximum of two consecutive terms of office. The Executive Committee meets approximately ten times a year in London and continuously during the four-day annual conference held each May. The EC is responsible for the efficient running of the union, the employment of staff, 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.

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, and in 1951 it adopted its current name.
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.
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 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.

Election results

From 1918 until 1992, the union sponsored a large number of Labour Party candidates, many of whom won election.
ElectionConstituencyCandidateVotes% sharePosition
1918 general electionEnfield6,176 37.52
1918 general electionManchester Blackley3,65925.02
1918 general electionSt Pancras South East2,18916.94
1918 general electionWatford4,95225.42
1918 general electionWolverhampton West10,15842.22
1918 general electionYork4,82218.03
1922 by-electionWolverhampton West13,79945.12
1922 general electionBolton20,55916.13
1922 general electionCirencester and Tewkesbury9,19535.82
1922 general electionEnfield9,82045.62
1922 general electionHigh Peak7,69827.12
1922 general electionManchester Blackley5,58026.83
1922 general electionSt Pancras South East5,60930.52
1922 general electionWolverhampton West15,19046.12
1922 general electionYork10,10629.62
1923 general electionCirencester and Tewkesbury7,84933.82
1923 general electionHigh Peak5,68420.83
1923 general electionSt Pancras South East7,86641.61
1923 general electionSheffield Park9,05039.42
1923 general electionStockport16,34018.05
1924 general electionBlackburn24,31721.84
1924 general electionEdinburgh West9,60333.12
1924 general electionForfarshire3,73622.93
1924 general electionHeywood and Radcliffe15,30744.42
1924 general electionSt Pancras South East10,46345.52
1924 general electionSheffield Park11,57645.22
1924 general electionStockport21,98624.83
1925 by-electionStockport20,21936.51
1929 general electionBlackburn35,72325.02
1929 general electionBristol South23,59156.51
1929 general electionEdinburgh West15,79538.61
1929 general electionForfarshire5,25725.03
1929 general electionHackney Central12,46237.31
1929 general electionSt Pancras South East13,17347.91
1929 general electionSheffield Park20,30451.41
1929 general electionStockport30,95527.41
1931 general electionBlackburn25,03016.64
1931 general electionBristol South17,17439.12
1931 general electionEdinburgh West12,70428.82
1931 general electionHackney Central9,29528.52
1931 general electionSt Pancras South East8,68432.12
1931 general electionSheffield Park15,78337.42
1931 general electionStockport23,35017.03
1935 general electionAshton-under-Lyne14,14050.21
1935 general electionBattersea South15,82142.72
1935 general electionBristol South22,58650.41
1935 general electionCarlisle13,95641.02
1935 general electionEast Ham North14,76249.12
1935 general electionHackney Central15,32251.61
1935 general electionHalifax21,47139.52
1935 general electionLinlithgowshire20,90554.11
1935 general electionSheffield Park21,15351.51
1935 general electionWhitehaven14,79448.91
1936 by-electionClay Cross24,29075.11
1945 general electionHackney Central14,81067.21
1945 general electionKensington North16,83856.61
1945 general electionLinlithgowshire24,76264.11
1945 general electionLiverpool Walton18,38543.61
1945 general electionSouth East Essex25,58153.81
1945 general electionSowerby17,71050.81
1945 general electionSwansea West18,09858.01
1945 general electionWellingborough22,41657.71
1945 general electionWhitehaven18,56861.11
1950 general electionAccrington23,29548.81
1950 general electionCarlisle19,03146.51
1950 general electionDoncaster24,44950.91
1950 general electionKensington North21,61550.71
1950 general electionLanark19,20549.12
1950 general electionLiverpool Walton21,98341.42
1950 general electionPudsey18,20541.22
1950 general electionRutland and Stamford13,71241.32
1950 general electionStoke on Trent North36,89671.61
1950 general electionSwansea West26,27353.81
1950 general electionWellingborough21,64047.11
1950 by-electionWest Dunbartonshire20,36750.41
1951 general electionAccrington24,80252.31
1951 general electionCarlisle19,64846.81
1951 general electionChelmsford23,77545.02
1951 general electionDoncaster24,62149.62
1951 general electionKensington North22,68653.01
1951 general electionPudsey20,78246.32
1951 general electionRutland and Stamford15,12745.92
1951 general electionStoke on Trent North36,69271.41
1951 general electionSwansea West26,06152.21
1951 general electionWellingborough24,11352.41
1951 general electionWest Dunbartonshire21,79951.31
1955 general electionAccrington22,50251.51
1955 general electionBolton West20,01444.62
1955 general electionCarlisle19,70149.52
1955 general electionDoncaster22,93848.32
1955 general electionKensington North20,22653.91
1955 general electionOldham East18,80543.22
1955 general electionRutland and Stamford14,85645.72
1955 general electionSwansea West22,64751.21
1955 general electionWellingborough22,74551.01
1955 general electionWest Dunbartonshire21,85452.31
1959 general electionAccrington22,24250.71
1959 general electionCarlisle19,95047.62
1959 general electionKensington North14,92542.81
1959 general electionOldham East19,32944.41
1959 general electionPreston South18,93546.32
1959 general electionSouthwark25,03664.01
1959 general electionWellingborough22,35849.32
1959 general electionWest Dunbartonshire22,10552.51
1962 by-electionLeicester North East11,27441.51
1964 general electionAccrington20,56149.71
1964 general electionKensington North15,28349.51
1964 general electionLeicester North East15,49446.41
1964 general electionOldham East18,11245.41
1964 general electionSouthwark22,42668.81
1964 general electionWellingborough19,59242.31
1964 general electionWest Dunbartonshire21,07950.81
1966 general electionKensington North16,01254.81
1966 general electionLeicester North East17,00754.01
1966 general electionSouthwark21,85573.61
1966 general electionWellingborough24,70552.41
1966 general electionWest Dunbartonshire21,63652.31
1970 general electionDerby South19,40754.41
1970 general electionLeeds South East10,93062.71
1970 general electionLeicester North East15,01648.81
1970 general electionSouthwark16,83467.31
Feb 1974 general electionCroydon Central20,03938.02
Feb 1974 general electionDerby South26,61347.41
Feb 1974 general electionHendon South11,08827.73
Feb 1974 general electionLeeds South East17,82753.11
Feb 1974 general electionLeicester East23,47447.71
Oct 1974 general electionDerby South26,34251.01
Oct 1974 general electionHendon South11,90332.92
Oct 1974 general electionLeeds South East17,16061.21
Oct 1974 general electionLeicester East20,68844.81
1979 general electionDerby South26,94550.01
1979 general electionLeeds South East15,92156.31
1979 general electionLeicester East23,84446.91
1983 general electionSouth Derbyshire17,29629.22
1987 general electionEast Lothian24,58348.01
1987 general electionSwansea West22,08948.51
1992 general electionEast Lothian25,53746.51
1992 general electionSwansea West23,23853.01

Office holders

General Secretaries

Presidents

Treasurers

Until 1906 the General Secretary also controlled the unions' funds. John Stopford-Challener's embezzlement proved that this was an unwise arrangement and the office of National Treasurer was then instituted.