Manuel Cortes

Manuel Cortes (born 2 May 1967) is the General Secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA).

He was born in Gibraltar. He grew up in Gibraltar and left school with no qualifications. Growing up, he never spoke English with his family or friends.

He became an apprentice electrician, 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 in Kent. He studied Engineering at Heriot-Watt University, 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. He studied Economics because he did not value the main beliefs of capitalism, which he views mostly as forms of greed.

His first job after university was for the Banking, Insurance and Finance Union (BIFU). BIFU became UNIFI (trade union) in 1999, then part of Amicus in 2004. He worked for a year as a fundraiser for Amnesty International.

In March 1998 he joined the TSSA. TSSA is the UK's second-largest rail union, and was formerly known as the Railway Clerks' Association, a white-collar union.

He was elected General Secretary on 15 November 2011 for a five-year term. In 2016 he was re-elected with 66% of the vote on a turnout of 19%.

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