{"id":19232,"date":"2019-10-09T16:46:18","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T15:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=19232"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:55:07","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:55:07","slug":"thomas-cook-shops-saved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=19232","title":{"rendered":"Thomas Cook shops saved"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite has welcomed the news that all 555 Thomas Cook shops have been bought by rival Hayes Travel, potentially saving 2,500 jobs.<\/p>\n

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The independent travel firm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s owner John Hayes noted that while it was too early to give definite guarantees over each and every job, he said \u00e2\u20ac\u015bit is certainly our intention to take on all the staff; to welcome them back\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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Hayes Travel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s purchase will significantly grow the firm from the 190 shops it owns now and 1,900 staff it currently employs. The firm said the purchase will give the firm a presence in areas where it has little or none, such as in Scotland and Wales.<\/p>\n

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In a statement, Hayes Travel told Thomas Cook workers, \u00e2\u20ac\u015byou can be assured that we will be doing our utmost to build upon all that was good about the much-loved Thomas Cook brand\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland called the announcement \u00e2\u20ac\u015bclearly good news for the workers concerned and the communities the shops serve\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, but said it \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthrows into question the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s entire strategy with regards to Thomas Cook\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe sale of the shops clearly demonstrates that various parts of the business were viable,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Thomas Cook airline was not only viable but was profit making. Yet the government made no attempt to allow the airline to continue to fly. Instead it was placed into compulsory liquidation with the loss of 4,000 jobs,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Holland added.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bGiven the latest developments it is clear that the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s assessment that providing any financial assistance would risk \u00e2\u20ac\u0098throwing good money after bad\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 has been proven to be entirely false.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government should look again at the UK Thomas Cook airline and in doing so call a halt to the insolvency process. This would then allow there to be a proper and thorough examination of what action can be taken to find employment opportunities for Thomas Cook\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s airline staff.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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News of the purchase of Thomas Cook shops comes a day after Unite shed light on the domino effect precipitated by the firm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s collapse that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now resulting in job losses in the supply chain.<\/p>\n

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This week Aviator, which undertook ground handling operations for Thomas Cook at Manchester airport, has announced it is preparing to go into administration and will cease trading on October 22 with the loss of 351 jobs.<\/p>\n

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It is understood too that ground handlers Swissport at Bristol and Menzies at Gatwick have announced potential redundancies \u00e2\u20ac\u201c again in response to Thomas Cook\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s collapse.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe scale of additional job losses in the supply chain will significantly add to the numbers of losses in the airline itself,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 warned Unite national officer for civil aviation Oliver Richardson.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe potential job losses in the supply chain highlights why the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s failure to support the airline in particular, which was profitable and which had five potential bidders, was an act of economic vandalism.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bInevitably the taxpayer will end up paying more in redundancy payments and other legal claims as well as benefits for workers who may struggle to find new work, than was needed to keep the airline flying while a long-term solution was sort.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Richardson added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite will fight for every one of our members jobs, we will seek to keep redundancies to an absolute minimum and if there are job losses we will ensure that those affected receive every penny they are entitled to.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite has welcomed the news that all 555 Thomas Cook shops have been bought by rival Hayes Travel, potentially saving 2,500 jobs.   The independent travel firm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s owner John Hayes noted that while it was too early to give definite guarantees over each and every job, he said \u00e2\u20ac\u015bit is certainly our intention to take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19233,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[1233],"wps_subtitle":"Unite welcomes move but warns of more job losses in airline's wider supply chain","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19232"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19232"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24925,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19232\/revisions\/24925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}