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Last-ditch legal bid to halt Thomas Cook pilot strike fails

A 12-hour strike by Thomas Cook Airlines pilots is to go ahead tomorrow after the operator failed in a last-ditch legal bid to prevent the industrial action from taking place.

The walk-out by pilots is due begin at 3am tomorrow (Friday) and run until 3pm.

A judge yesterday rejected an attempt by Thomas Cook to get a High Court injunction to prevent the action by members of the British Airline Pilots’ Association, ordered the union’s costs to be paid and declined permission for the operator to appeal.

Thomas Cook Airlines insisted that all flights on September 8 will continue to operate but 28 services have had their departures times altered.

The turnout in the ballot was 88% with 91% of pilots voting to take action in a dispute over their 2017 pay negotiations.

Balpa general secretary Brian Strutton said: “Balpa has always been confident in the decisive ballot result and was disappointed that Thomas Cook decided to challenge it legally rather than spending time and effort bringing an acceptable offer to the table.

“However, we robustly defended our right to strike and the judge rejected Thomas Cook’s arguments about the wording of the ballot paper.

“We have taken this course of action extremely reluctantly, but with no sensible pay offer on the table, we have no other option.

“Thomas Cook pilots have faced year-on-year, real-terms pay cuts, and cuts to terms and conditions, and our pilots have said ‘enough is enough.’

“We have, however, kept this action to a minimum – just 12 hours. Thomas Cook have stated that ‘all of [Thomas Cook’s] flights on 8th September will operate.’

“We hope that this is true, as Thomas Cook’s customers are not to blame for this action, but we also believe that if Thomas Cook had spent time negotiating rather than re-arranging schedules, this action may well have been unnecessary.

“We remain committed to finding a solution to this dispute which will mean Thomas Cook putting forward a pay offer that their pilots can accept.”

Thomas Cook said: “Our priority is to make sure all of our customers can still fly on holiday and back home with us and we are pleased to confirm that all of our flights on 8th September will operate.

“In order to make sure that everyone can still travel with us during the strike period, we have made changes to the departure times of some of our flights on the 8th of September.

“We have tried to keep disruption to a minimum and apologise if these changes affect your plans or cause you inconvenience on that day.”

A spokesman added: “We’re disappointed with the court’s ruling and we will continue to work with Balpa representatives to come to an agreement on their pay claim.

“Our priority is to make sure all of our customers can still fly on holiday and back home with us during the strike period and we are pleased to confirm that our flights on September 8 will operate.”

More:

Thomas Cook Airlines’ pilots to strike on September 8

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