Thomas Cook cabin crew redundancies

Fernanjet · 17th Dec 2011, 06:19

Thoughts go out to all those hundreds of Thomas Cook cabin crew given letters of the intention to make them redundant yesterday....

What sort of company gives their crew a letter advising them that they will be made redundant and then giving them 2 weeks to opt "voluntarily" to take it (and receive an enhanced payout) before being forced out anyway??

A company that is struggling in a nig way and wants to announce publicly that they made less redundancies than they had to due to the uptake of volunteers....PATHETIC!!!

In the long termat least they will get a payout to leave before the company goes bump and they lose everything!!

Pull what · 18th Dec 2011, 20:24

Sorry to hear of those redundancies.

OBK! · 19th Dec 2011, 09:45

I heard quite a few had to pay postage on their own letters! Maybe the youth in HR don't know how to use stamps!

Thoughts go out to all the cabin crew anyway.

Fernanjet · 28th Dec 2011, 14:24

The postage rumour sounds too far fetched to be true....

but it is indeed 100% true!!!

£1.36 down the post office.....4 days before christmas to "buy" a letter telling you that you werent going to have a job next year!!

then again....probably best to take the redundancy money before they dissappear in a cloud of dust leaving all the crew with no jobs and no payouts!!

fa2fi · 29th Dec 2011, 08:50

Anyone able to shed any light on where these redundancies are happening. Is it all bases or just a few? Very sad times.

Fernanjet · 29th Dec 2011, 15:09

about 400+ cabin crew going altogether across the UK....

most taking voluntary due to the company offering a fairly well enhanced voluntary package (forced by UNITE) but allowing them to take the voluntary package after being told they were being made compulsory redundant....

looks better to the business world announcing less compulsory redundancies than planned due to people not being able to wait to get out and be paid for it!!

still adds up to 400+ people and pilots, and office staff etc....

not forgetting the 200 shops....500 shop staff.....

"dont just book it.....(an apt place to stop the phrase i believe!!)"

SENFLYER · 29th Dec 2011, 16:18

Sorry to hear about the redundancies, better that than it going bust and being left in the cold though as I've experienced with a previous airline employer. The only upside might be that the company may just ride out the storm, one way or another and eventually growth will return and hopefuly
re-employment with it. I for one hope it does, yes it could do with a kick up the backside but it would be a shame to loose it.

bagsybtmbunk · 29th Dec 2011, 19:37

Does anyone seriously think a member of the public is going to risk putting their hard earned salary on a holiday with TCX now this situation has been made public?

For the carrier's sake I hope so, but I'm not too hopeful.

waco · 30th Dec 2011, 00:08

TCX has a profitable market in Germany and Scandanavia. They will simply run down the UK operation to a point where it either can turn a profit or ditch it all together.

strength · 30th Dec 2011, 18:29

I think that is is very sad for the Thomas Cook staff to be put into this position, I have some thoughts on this, maybe I am wrong but I think that Thomas Cook Travel Agents have been undercutting rival Thomson and First Choice too much, I have friends who work for both Thomson and First Choice travel and they tell me that Thomas Cook have always done better price matching, sometimes the Thomas Cook offers were at the stage where there was no or very little profit to be made.....just to put bums on seats, this has not helped Thomas Cook profit-wise.

STN Ramp Rat · 1st Jan 2012, 17:43

Quote:

I heard quite a few had to pay postage on their own letters! Maybe the youth in HR don't know how to use stamps!

Whenever I have been involved in redundancies, fortunately not often, the letters have had to be sent out by recorded delivery or registered post so that it can be proved that the notice had been served. If the letter is lost on the post then I think I am correct in saying legally it has never been served and any dismissal would be deemed to be automatically an unfair dismissal by any tribunal. This might be something the unions can advise on.

Dawdler · 2nd Jan 2012, 15:50

Quote:

Whenever I have been involved in redundancies, fortunately not often, the letters have had to be sent out by recorded delivery or registered post so that it can be proved that the notice had been served.

In this instance perhaps this has been affected by there being no-one home to sign for/accept the delivery. The usual practice for the Postman to put a card through the door indicating where the letter can be picked up. There would not normally be a charge for this, but perhaps the incorrect postage fee was paid on the letter in the first place. In our neck of the woods, you would have to pay to park or risk the double yellow lines.

red alder · 14th Jan 2012, 17:00

[What sort of company gives their crew a letter advising them that they will be made redundant and then giving them 2 weeks to opt "voluntarily" to take it (and receive an enhanced payout) before being forced out anyway??]

Having been on the receiving end of redundancy threats/offers (albeit in a different service area and the last recession or the one before, there have been so many) there are those who are planning to leave or thinking of leaving soon anyway and this is a good opportunity for them to get a little bonus plus reduces the number competing for the diminishing jobs. In my case, so many left that that employer ended up short of staff and had to recruit which made me laugh.

Hearing just before Christmas is a bummer certainly, well anytime is, but I would sooner know then than say on 10th Jan.

Good luck, jobseekers, do not lose heart, there are many wonderful people chasing too few jobs. It will be Ok in the end.

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