The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has urged employers to be flexible when it comes to employees who have been left stranded as a result of the travel chaos caused by a volcanic ash cloud.
Since late last week, flights to and from the UK and much of mainland Europe have been cancelled as a result of the dust cloud, which originated from Iceland, amid concerns that glass and rock particles in the cloud could jam a plane’s engine.
Now, the TUC has called on managers, who may have been struggling with the resulting absence management problem, not to penalise workers for events that are outside their control.
General Secretary of the union Brendan Barber said: “We would ask bosses to be sympathetic to the plight of their employees and be flexible in their approach to resolving the situation. Docking wages is an extreme reaction.”
He added that if effected staff have already used up their annual leave, employers should consider allowing them to use next year’s holiday allowance to make up for the shortfall.
Posted by Hayley Edwards
