On September 25, the union of Tourism-Hotels Workers of Athens and many other unions of the Tourism Sector, members of PAME, realized an intervention at the Greek Ministry of Labor, on the situation of the workers affected by the bankruptcy of THOMAS COOK.
The Unions demanded immediate measures to safeguard the working and insurance rights of the workers, in contrast with the efforts of the Government and employers aim to guarantee the profits of the big Hotel Groups.
The workers noted that “With the announcement of the bankruptcy of the tourist firm “Thomas Cook”, which manages, among others, two (2) hotels in Rhodes, one (1) in Crete and one (1) in Kos, with agreements with hundreds of hotels and tourist agencies across Greece, thousands of workers with both direct and indirect employment with this colossus face the risk of being unemployed, unpaid, uninsured and out of the unemployment fund as provided for seasonal workers, as are most hotel workers. At the same time, dozens of workers in large and smaller tourist offices are in uncertainty as much of their work has been managed by incoming tourism in collaboration with Thomas Cook.More specifically, we note about 48 hotels (ownership or franchisees) that are under the umbrella of the group, while COOK employees in its own hotels directly number 640 with 370 of them in two units in Rhodes.”
The Unions demanded:
- No employee, whether directly employed by a Thomas Cook Hotel Management Unit or a hotel accommodation or tourist agency affected by its bankruptcy, will be left unpaid or uninsured as well as securing payouts of Christmas Leave and Allowances. Measures should also be taken to accommodate seasonal workers who live away from their place of residence and to cover the cost of returning to their place of residence.
- If seasonal hotel companies make redundancies because of the effects of bankruptcy, ensure that these employees can receive the unemployment benefit without conditions and restrictions.
- Emergency aid of one thousand (1,000) euros to employees who are either unemployed or unpaid, with priority being given to direct employees in hotel management units of “Thomas Cook”.
- Protection measures for workers’ families (freezing of loans and bills of energy, water, telephony).
PAME Secretariat of Tourism-Hotels calls all unions and workers internationally, affected by this development to contact and coordinate their actions and initiatives for the protection of the workers affected by THOMAS COOK bankruptcy.It is important to share information for all developments and initiatives concerning the dozens of thousands of workers related with THOMAS COOK.
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