Union to hold urgent meeting with Thomas Cook’s Gatwick staff
Unite is holding a mass meeting of Thomas Cook’s Gatwick-based workers on Thursday, open to members and non-members.
The union has over 400 Thomas Cook workers who were based at Gatwick airport, the second largest of the company’s airport hubs behind Manchester.
The session, at 9.30am at the Arora Hotel, Southgate Avenue, Crawley, will give workers information about how to claim unpaid wages, securing redundancy pay and a legal claim called a protective award.
Unite said the meeting was urgent because workers who were made redundant were due to be paid yesterday but have not been.
Instead they have become ordinary creditors of Thomas Cook and it is unclear when they will get paid and if they will only receive a percentage of what is owed to them.
The meeting will also provide advice on how staff can seek new employment, including advice on writing a CV and information on job vacancies with other airlines.
Unite regional officer Jamie Major said: "Thomas Cook staff are rightly angry about how they have been treated in being made redundant without warning.
"Unite will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that our members receive every penny they are entitled to.
"Unite is also providing assistance with linking Thomas Cook workers to vacancies at other airlines. This was an excellent high skilled and dedicated workforce, who possess a skills set that other airlines will welcome."
Unite has launched a petition calling on Andrea Leadsom, Secretary of State for Business, Energy, Industrial Strategy, to make sure Thomas Cook workers get the money they’re owed.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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