Thomson Airways threatened with Christmas strike action
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Thomson Airways flights could be disrupted in the run-up to Christmas after Unite announced a strike ballot among crew controllers and assistants.
The union will launch a ballot for the 30 members of staff on 19 November due to close on 10 December.
The staff member arrange cabin crew and pilot rosters to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to cover sick colleagues and unforeseen circumstances, and has had pay ‘severely eroded’ against levels of inflation.
The ballot follows a breakdown of negotiations with Acas and came the day before TUI’s EGM yesterday.
Unite regional officer Kevin Hall said: “This is an extremely profitable company that rewards other sections of its workforce very generously and our members in the crewing department see this day in, day out.
“We do not believe it is unreasonable to start to bring our members pay back in line with inflation and the early indications we have had from our members is that this ballot will be well supported.”
Hall called on management to meet with the union and negotiate a ‘fair and equable deal’ to avert industrial action.
In a statement, Thomson Airways said: “Thomson Airways is surprised and disappointed to note that Unite intends to ballot our small team of crew roster controllers to consider strike action over the Christmas and New Year period, despite being offered what we believe is an extremely fair and reasonable pay deal. We feel this is premature as further talks are scheduled for next week. We would like to reassure customers that, should the strike action go ahead, we have contingency plans in place to ensure that there is no disruption to customers’ travel.”
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