No payday for jobless Thomas Cook staff

● Union blames Government for ‘lack of initiatitve’

Thomas Cook staff left in limbo are preparing to go without their wages today – which should have been their payday – after the travel firm’s collapse.

About 9,000 workers in the UK were left jobless last Monday after the company’s directors failed to secure a rescue deal amid huge debts.

Cabin manager Blakey Jones, who has worked for Thomas Cook in Bristol for six years, said staff were unaware of the troubles plaguing the firm until last week.

“On Monday morning, we received an email to say they tried everything they could but the talks had failed, and that was all we got,” the 36-yearold said.

“I don’t think there’s been a lot of real input from anybody

Thomas Cook cabin manager to tell us what’s going on. It was like, ‘We couldn’t come to an agreement, that’s it, the end’.

“Nobody expected it to go under like this.”

More than 100 staff said on Friday they have backed legal action against the travel firm in an attempt to recover thousands of pounds of lost wages.

Unite national officer Oliver Richardson claimed the loss of jobs was a result of “the Government’s lack of initiative”.

He said: “Thomas Cook staff weren’t wealthy. Many of them lived pay cheque to pay cheque. The fact that those who have been made redundant will not be paid on Monday is a huge blow.

“They will have to claim owed wages from the Insolvency Service, which will take weeks. Unite has urged the Government to directly intervene and speed up the process.

“The fact that workers in this part of the business lost their jobs is a direct result of the Government’s lack of initiative and failure to intervene.

“Other governments in Europe did the right thing and these subsidiaries of Thomas Cook continue to fly.”

Hundreds of Thomas Cook staff are anticipated to hold a demonstration at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester today.

Dressed in their Thomas Cook uniforms, the workers will protest at the Government’s failure to intervene and cover the £200 million funding gap.

“I don’t think there’s been a lot of real input from anybody to tell us what’s going on. It was like, ‘We couldn’t come to an agreement, that’s it, the end’.”

BLAKEY JONES