Thomas Cook cabin crew have voted in favour of industrial action over 498 job losses.
In a consultative ballot, the members of Unite decided to take industrial action over the company’s redundancy plans.
The vote followed break-down talks with the company’s management over its refusal to improve the redundancy terms.
At the moment, TC is offering two weeks per year redundancy pay.
Unite is demanding a minimum of three weeks per year, plus a lump sum payment of £5,000. The average cabin crew pay is £15,000-a-year.
The union has about 1,150 members of the 1,800 cabin crew workforce.
Unite reps at Thomas Cook will meet in Manchester tomorrow (Wednesday) to decide their future strategy.
One option could be to go for a full industrial action ballot, which may include strike action.
Unite regional officer Mick Whitley said: “The overwhelming vote shows our members’ anger and should be a strong wake-up call for the management to return to the negotiating table with a fair offer.
“And until we have had the meeting tomorrow, Unite is not going to speculate about Christmas flights by Thomas Cook. The ball is very much in the management’s court – they need to come up with a realistic offer for those facing redundancy. They are a very profitable firm.”
A total of 475 voted in favour of industrial action, with 53 against. There were six spoilt ballot papers.
Whitley added: “The group made £320 million this year and it is paying out a fortune in bonuses and dividends, as well as sponsoring the Olympics.”
by Bev Fearis
