Thomas Cook staff march on Parliament today demanding government intervention

Thomas Cook’s unpaid workers are lobbying parliament today to demand a full investigation into the company’s collapse – and for its directors to pay back their multi-million pound bonuses.

They will also call for ministers to intervene to ensure Thomas Cook’s 9,000 staff, who suddenly found themselves out of work without notice when the firm collapsed last week, receive their final pay.

The mass demonstration in Westminster is likely to be a huge embarrassment for the government. Unite, the staff union, said the travel firm’s employees will be talking to the media about their struggles paying bills, including buying food for their families.

Unite said ‘workers from all parts of the country’, who didn’t receive their pay cheque yesterday for the days worked immediately prior to the company’s collapse last month, will attend the demonstration.

They will be handing in two petitions; the first, which has more than 50,000 signatures will be presented to Downing Street calling on the Prime Minister to hold a full inquiry into Thomas Cook’s collapse, and for its directors to pay back their bonuses. Peter Fankhauser, the firm’s CEO, was paid a bonus of almost £3 million alone in 2015.

The Financial Reporting Council announced yesterday that it has launched an investigation into the auditing of Thomas Cook’s final set of financial results. A separate investigation has also been launched by the government’s Insolvency Service into whether the actions of Thomas Cook’s management caused detriment to creditors or pension schemes.

The second Unite petition, which has more than 10,000 signatures, will be handed to the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), calling on business secretary Andrea Leadsom to intervene~and make sure the affected workers receive their unpaid wages.

Many of Thomas Cook’s workers have had to claim universal credit, according to Unite, but they won’t receive any payment until the end of October at the earliest.

Those who were working for Thomas Cook for at least two years prior to the collapse will also be able to claim statutory redundancy pay, and those who worked in premises with 20 employees or more might be able to claim additional compensation under a little-known law.

In a statement, Unite said: "The UK government allowed the profitable Thomas Cook airline to collapse into compulsory liquidation, while Thomas Cook’s subsidiaries in Germany, Spain and Scandinavia, were able to continue to fly as they received support from their respective national governments.

Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland added: "Unite is pleased to be supporting the lobby and protest in parliament that has been organised by Thomas Cook workers who lost their jobs without warning.

"The fact that workers are coming to parliament from all parts of the UK demonstrates just how angry workers are with the government which they rightly believe has abandoned them.

"This week workers have been left with no income as their wages were not paid.

"Workers do not understand how the profitable Thomas Cook airline was allowed to collapse while the European subsidiaries were able to continue to fly.

"The very least the Thomas Cook workers deserve, is to receive an answer to the question as to why the company was allowed to collapse as well an explanation from the government as to its lack of action in the lead up."