TSSA Leader Manuel Cortes Wants Trump Blocked From Scotland Until He Pays Debt To Hotel Worker
The leader of the Transport Salaried Staff’s Association (TSSA) Manuel Cortes doesn’t think that U.S. President Donald Trump should be allowed on Scottish soil so long as he owes unpaid debts to pensioners that he assumed responsibility for as a condition of ownership of his golf resort there. The TSSA is an independent union for travel and rail employees with thousands of members in Scotland, Ireland, and the U.K. While Trump may not know or remember who they are, they surely remember him and have rallied around one of their own that Trump has allegedly wronged.
As a part of the deal that allowed Trump to take over ownership of the Turnberry Resort, now known as the Trump Turnberry, certain debts and obligations had to be assumed. One of the obligations was that Trump would assume the cost of paying for the travel pass of the last pensioner of the Turnberry when it was a railroad resort and fell under the British Railway System. The travel pass was a guarantee to each pensioner of four free rail trips annually and discounted travel the rest of the year. It is valued annually at a bit over a $1,300. For Trump, that should be no problem to cover.
Last year, the TSSA was notified that the pensioner in question, Alistair Sutherland, was not going to have his travel pass covered by Trump, and Cortes made sure it was known to The Evening Times, that the pass wasn’t a “freebie” and rather an earned part of his pension.
“This is nothing more than an exercise of Trump’s greed. Altogether the pass was worth about £1,000 a year to Alistair – peanuts to Trump, and less than the cost of a night’s stay in his New York hotel. But this is a very significant amount for a retired working class Scottish man wanting to visit his family down south. Alistair worked his whole life for the Turnberry hotel. But Scrooge Trump doesn’t value things like loyalty or good character unless he’s making a profit from it.”
Cortes has implored First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to take a stance on this issue and fight for Sutherland. He feels Trump should not be allowed to enter the country until he has satisfied his debts, and it would appear that the members of the union he represents and many working-class Scots agree.
“Nicola Sturgeon should tell Scrooge Trump he’s not welcome in Scotland. She should stand up for poor working class Scots who have been robbed by this buffoon billionaire. Nicola should demand that Trump coughs up.”
