An unbiased inquiry has been launched into allegations of sexual harassment and bullying at a transport union after particular claims of misconduct in opposition to its basic secretary.
Helena Kennedy KC interviewed present and former union officers this month after she was requested by the TUC to launch an investigation into the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Affiliation (TSSA).
Manuel Cortes, the pinnacle of the union, is dealing with accusations of undesirable touching and calls for for kisses from at the very least two girls, the Guardian understands.
Cortes, who has led the union since 2011, vehemently denied claims made in opposition to him in Could. He apologised for any harm brought on by his behaviour.
Claims in opposition to Cortes emerged within the spring after Claire Laycock, who labored for the TSSA for a number of years as an organiser in Yorkshire, mentioned she was harassed in a pub after a Christmas get together in 2018. A video posted on-line by Laycock claimed Cortes had requested her to kiss him and had invited her to “go exterior”.
The union confronted criticism on the time after it enforced a non-disclosure settlement (NDA) to cease Laycock from repeating the allegations. The union, which represents many white-collar staff within the transport trade, beforehand carried out an inquiry of its personal into among the claims, which weren’t upheld.
The Guardian can reveal that Maggie Hayes, one other former organiser on the similar union, has claimed that she noticed Cortes transferring inappropriately near Laycock after the Christmas get together in 2018 and overheard him ask her “Can I kiss you?” She mentioned Laycock replied: “No, don’t, you might be my boss!”
Hayes, a former commerce union organiser at TSSA, is taking the union to an employment tribunal claiming intercourse discrimination, harassment and victimisation. The union is disputing her declare.
One other former organiser, Hannah Plant, advised the union in January 2020 that she had been warned by different girls about Cortes’s allegedly inappropriate behaviour.
In a written submission despatched to union officers as a part of a grievance process, she wrote: “I used to be warned by a colleague to maintain my distance. This echoed warnings I’d had from exterior of the organisation in regards to the basic secretary’s behaviour at social occasions, and from quite a lot of colleagues once I first joined who advised me to not be alone with him,” she wrote.
Cortes, who was born and raised in Gibraltar, endorsed Jeremy Corbyn within the 2015 Labour management election and opposed Brexit.
The TSSA has been on the forefront of current industrial motion which has hit the UK’s railways in a continued dispute over pay, jobs and situations.
Cortes mentioned final month he can be standing on the picket line in Liverpool this weekend, the place Labour will maintain its annual convention, and he urged these attending the occasion to affix him.
Approached for a remark, a TSSA spokesperson mentioned the inquiry was launched publicly on Tuesday and would look into “allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying inside TSSA, referring to officers and others employed by the union”.
“TSSA’s govt committee will obtain the ultimate report and proposals and act on them. The report is predicted earlier than Christmas 2022. TSSA is dedicated to successful our workers and members’ confidence, righting any wrongs, and studying classes by way of this course of,” the spokesperson mentioned.
The union mentioned in Could that it’s difficult claims made on the tribunal by Hayes however won’t attempt to implement NDAs associated to accusations of sexual harassment.
Woman Kennedy, a Labour peer and campaigner in opposition to discrimination, led a staff of specialists in Scotland inspecting misogyny. Her committee earlier this 12 months referred to as for a separate Misogyny and Prison Justice Act to be created.
Requested to touch upon Kennedy’s inquiry, the TUC basic secretary, Frances O’Grady, mentioned: “Sexual harassment just isn’t acceptable in any office. And it should not be tolerated inside the union motion. It’s completely proper that there’s an unbiased investigation. We should forestall and cease sexual harassment, at any time when and wherever it occurs.”