Approximately 91% of pilots at holiday airline Thomas Cook Airlines have voted to take industrial action in a dispute over pay and conditions.
The vast majority of the 560 pilots at Thomas Cook are members of the British Airline Pilots Association, of which 91% have voted for strike action.
Executives at BALPA have announced the strike will take place for twelve hours between 3.00am and 3.00pm on the 8th September this year. However, it is understood that talks between the union and the airline will continue.
Pilots had been offered a 1.5% pay rise on top of their annual automatic pay increase of 1.8%, according to reports in the media, which is nowhere near the 10.7% increase that had asked for. It's also thought that flight deck crew had demanded to be flown in business class when the airline positions them for flight duty.
Balpa general secretary, Brian Strutton, said: “Disrupting people’s travel plans is the last thing pilots want to do and we very much regret taking this step.
“However, our members are frustrated that after many months of negotiations we still do not have a decent pay offer on the table and they have said loud and clear ‘enough is enough’.
“That is why Balpa has authorised a strike to take place on September 8. In the meantime I will continue trying to negotiate with Thomas Cook to achieve an outcome that will be acceptable to pilots.”
A spokesperson for Thomas Cook said "Our priority is to minimise disruption to our customers' holidays. We have contingency plans in place which mean we are confident we will be able to operate all of our flights during the planned strike. We are working hard with BALPA's representatives to find a way forward."
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