More than 2,600 workers axed by Thomas Cook Airlines are still jobless, struggling to make ends meet.
Six weeks on from the travel giant’s collapse, just 10% of the airline’s 4,000 staff have found full-time permanent jobs, a study by the Unite union found.
While 67% have had no work at all, almost 5% have part-time permanent posts, and almost 10% have work with zero hours or fixed-term contracts. The remainder are not looking for work.
More than 40% of the Unite members polled said they had been interviewed for work in the airline sector, but most had failed to be offered jobs.
It has led to fears that offers from rivals at the time of Thomas Cook’s collapse were “little more than PR opportunities”.
Most of Thomas Cook’s 9,000-strong UK workforce were not paid last month’s wages. In the poll, of the airline staff who had applied for Universal Credit , only 19% had got a payment.
Unite’s Diana Holland said: “The survey demonstrates the human misery caused by the collapse of Thomas Cook.
"Highly skilled and dedicated workers, who lost their jobs through no fault of their own and without warning are finding it incredibly difficult to return to employment.
“The struggle of workers to return to employment further highlights both the government’s failure to understand the nature of the Thomas Cook business and a complete absence of political will.
“The airline was extremely profitable and there were already potential buyers, interested in the business.”
Hays Travel has bought Thomas Cook’s 555 travel agencies, pledging to offer jobs to 2,500 of the staff.
