Play fair plea over tour company jobs

The company announced last month that the jobs would be lost in the UK, with 500 employees at Helmshore and Accrington fearing they could be heavily involved.

The GMB union said today that it had been inundated with calls from workers who were becoming increasingly concerned about their jobs and that they could miss out on some redundancy pay.

But MyTravel hit back with a spokesman saying that the firm was following the law to the letter and adding that the GMB was causing workers "upset and distress."

"Our phone lines have been red hot with MyTravel employees asking to join the union and seeking advice over potential redundancies," said regional organiser Neil Holden.

Mr Holden said the GMB feared the company was planning to announce redundancies in groups of less than 100 More than 100 would trigger an automatic 90-day notice period.

"If they announce 99 or fewer redundancies, they only have to give 30 days notice," said Mr Holden. "We may see batches of 99 people leaving the company over the next few months.

"Therefore, on every individual who is made unemployed they could save 60 days pay.

"Not only is MyTravel cutting people's jobs, if they do this they are short-changing them by denying them their rights. "

Mr Holden said the GMB had increased its membership at MyTravel, but admitted it was not strong enough to seek official recognition with the company.

"Our advice to all MyTravel employees who are yet to join the union is not to leave it too late in contacting us," he added.

A MyTravel spokesman said: "We are well aware of our statutory obligations and are following these to the letter.

"There is a legal process that we have to go through when staff are potentially going to be made redundant which we are following. We are not exploiting anything.

"This is a difficult time for our staff and we find the GMB's comments particularly unhelpful.

"The GMB do not represent our staff. They are causing upset and distress."