300 Co-operative Travel staff placed on redundancy alert
The Co-operative Travel has begun discussing potential redundancies with staff based in Manchester, Burslem, Rotherham, Ilkeston and Lichfield, leaving up to 300 fearful for their jobs.
The company confirmed that the majority of its head office functions will move to Thomas Cook's Peterborough HQ following the retail merger of the two companies, which was completed earlier this month.
It has started a 90-day redundancy consultation with staff but it has not confirmed how many jobs will be lost.
Commenting on the plans, the Thomas Cook/Co-operative Travel Joint Venture CEO Simon Robinson said: “By relocating certain functions and bringing together activities that support specific areas, we believe the sales, service and financial performances of the Joint Venture as a whole would improve.
"We have shared with our colleagues today the location proposals and the steps we’ll take to support them through this process.”
Thomas Cook has already announced plans to close 24 high street shops, affecting 100 staff, and shed 250 jobs from its airline, which has led to the threat of strike action from the cabin crew union Unite. It is also consulting with its staff at Peterborough and Falkirk calls centres about its plans to extend their overall working hours from 8am to 10pm, seven days a week.
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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