LRC to hear Thomas Cook dispute

The dispute over a redundancy deal for Thomas Cook workers being made redundant will go before the Labour Relations Commission…

The dispute over a redundancy deal for Thomas Cook workers being made redundant will go before the Labour Relations Commission today.

Union bosses and company management are both expected to appear before officials in Dublin - eight days after workers were arrested early in the morning for staging a five day sit in at the company’s Grafton Street store.

Thomas Cook claimed the Irish stores were closed after suffering losses of around €1 million a year.

Staff were originally offered a pay-off of five weeks wages for every year of service. But unions want a better deal and maintain the Irish operations were closed a month earlier than planned, affecting up to 70 staff.

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Talks on a new redundancy deal began last week when 30 workers agreed to abide by a court order and not restart the occupation, but the union claims Thomas Cook do not have a revised offer.

Gerry Doherty, general secretary of the staff’s union Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association, said: “We are pleased that there is a now the chance of resolving this dispute and achieving justice for a group of workers who have fought magnificently for their cause.”

PA