Manuel Cortes, 2016 Labour Party Conference

Manuel Cortes (born 2 May 1967) is a British

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

ist who served as the General Secretary of the

Transport Salaried Staffs' Association The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) 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, Manche ...

(TSSA) between 2011 and 2022.

Early life

Protest for an Affordable Railway under Public Ownership - Waterloo

Cortes was born and raised in

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

; while growing up, he never spoke

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

with his family. He left school with no qualifications. He became an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

electrician An electrician is a tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, transmission lines, stationary machines, and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance ...

, joined a local union, and gained technical qualifications from the Gibraltar and Dockyard Technical College. It allowed him to pursue further studies at a

technical college An institute of technology (also referred to as: technological university, technical university, university of technology, technological educational institute, technical college, polytechnic university or just polytechnic) is an institution of te ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. He studied Engineering at

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

, later becoming a full-time student representative. Later he would gain master's degrees in Optical Electronics, and also Business Economics from the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

. He studied Economics because he did not value the main beliefs of capitalism, which he views mostly as forms of greed.

Career

Cortes' first job after university was for the

Banking, Insurance and Finance Union The Banking, Insurance and Finance Union (BIFU) was a British trade union. The union was founded in 1946 as the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE), when the Bank Officers' Guild and the Scottish Bankers' Association merged. In 1979, it ...

(BIFU) that merged with the Barclays Group Staff Union and NatWest Staff Association in 1999 to become the UNIFI , then became part of Amicus in 2004. He worked for a year as a fundraiser for

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

Transport Salaried Staffs' Association

In March 1998, Cortes joined the TSSA, the UK's second-largest rail union, and was formerly known as the Railway Clerks' Association, a white-collar union. On 15 November 2011, he was elected General Secretary for a five-year term. In December 2016, he was re-elected with 66% of the vote on a turnout of 19%. In 2015, Cortes endorsed

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

in the Labour Party leadership election. In 2022 Cortes was accused of sexual harassment by a former TSSA employee something which he vehemently denied and which hadn't been upheld after an investigation. In February 2023 the report of an investigation by a Labour Party member of the House of Lords that was requested by the UK Trade Unions Council (TUC) was published. The report was critical of Cortes and other senior TSSA officials and supported the harassment allegations made by several former TSSA staff. Cortes and several other senior TSSA staff were dismissed following publication of the report commissioned by the TUC.https://novaramedia.com/2023/02/23/trade-union-leader-dismissed-following-report-into-sexual-harassment/

References

External links

TSSA structure
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cortes, Manuel 1967 births Alumni of Heriot-Watt University Alumni of the University of Strathclyde Electricians General Secretaries of the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association Gibraltarians Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress Living people