Councils urged to fight for jobs as travel firm closes back office

Thomas Cook announced the move to staff at the office in Birkenshaw on the Bradford-Kirklees border last week and a formal consultation on the job losses begins today.

Robert Light, a Birkenshaw councillor and leader of the Conservative group on Kirklees Council, said: “We are very disappointed Thomas Cook are choosing to leave the Birkenshaw area.

“Whilst they are in the Bradford Council district they have much more affinity with Birkenshaw and whilst there functions at this site are back office I am sure customers will be concerned if these are outsourced out of the UK.

“We are concerned for the people employed at this site and urge both Bradford and Kirklees Councils to work with the company to support staff and to encourage Thomas Cook to reconsider their decision.”

Thomas Cook’s decision followed a review of its operations and will see work transferred to Peterborough and in some cases potentially outsoured.

The Birkenshaw office is scheduled to close in January 2015.

Last year, Thomas Cook closed a call centre in Aldermanbury with the loss of 500 jobs. The staff affected by the latest decision are understood to include some who transferred from Aldermanbury.

Speaking last week, Reto Wilhem, managing directo at Thomas Cook UK & Ireland, said: “We fully appreciate the impact this decsion will have on our Birkenshaw-based employees and are committed to doing everything we can to support them over the coming weeks should our proposals go ahead.”

[email protected]