THE Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association has pledged
to challenge Lunn Poly’s policy of docking staff wages for financial errors.
The industry trade union wrote to TUI UK
human resources director Dominic Mahoney calling for a meeting about the new
policy, which sees staff wages cut to compensate the company for financial
errors (Travel Weekly July 23).
In the letter, negotiations officer Dave Allen
questioned the legality of the scheme and claimed staff are being “heavily
pressured” to sign it.
Allen accused the operator of, in some cases, refusing
to grant pay increases to staff who don’t agree to the policy.
Lunn Poly, which is under no obligation to meet the
TSSA, declined a meeting claiming it has already answered the union’s
questions.
In a responding letter, Mahoney claimed the policy
only kicks in after an agent has made multiple errors. He also denied it is a
company rule to withhold pay rises to staff who don’t agree to the policy.
A Lunn Poly spokeswoman said: “We have clarified the
union’s points. We acknowledge our original communication caused confusion
among staff. The union now knows we are not looking for scapegoats.”
But a TSSA spokeswoman said the union would continue
to pursue the issue.
“We will seek further clarification. There are issues
we are still concerned about,” she said.
The union has reiterated its commitment to overturning
the policy by launching a petition for Lunn Poly staff.
Writing as Travel Weekly’s guest columnist this week,
TSSA general secretary Gerry Doherty labelled the policy a “sledgehammer
approach” which will lead to “poor staff morale”.
Doherty urged Lunn Poly to focus on investing in more staff
training to avoid potential errors.