Airline pays out nearly £2m after underpaying part-timers

Virgin
Atlantic has been forced to pay almost £2m in compensation to part-time cabin
crew, it emerged today.

The
airline had been underpaying around 350 staff, mostly working mothers, for up
to seven years.

The
company settled after it was threatened with legal action by the Amicus union,
which had been alerted to the situation by a female Virgin employee.

Derek
Simpson, general secretary of Amicus, said: “This is a great outcome for
hundreds of hard working mothers on low pay who do a job with considerable
responsibilities in challenging times for the aviation industry.”

The
average payout is under £5,000, but a few more senior, long-serving cabin crew are believed to be receiving
up to £20,000.

Virgin
Atlantic blamed an adminstrative
error for the underpayments, and said it has acted quickly when told of the
problem.

By Daniel Thomas

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