Thomas Cook's main shareholder appears to have decided that enough is enough
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Thomas Cook's 178-year existence was hanging by a thread on Sunday after the iconic British travel firm struggled to find further private investment and is now relying on an unlikely government bailout.
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The operator said Friday that it needed £200 million ($250 million) -- in addition to the £900-million rescue deal secured last month -- or else face administration, which could leave thousands of holidaymakers stranded and require Britain's largest repatriation since World War II.
A source close to the negotiations told AFP on Saturday that the company had failed to find the £200 million from private investors and would collapse unless the government intervened.
But ministers are unlikely to step in due to worries about the pioneering operator's longer-term viability, the Times reported on Saturday, leaving it on the brink of collapse and stranding up to 150,000 British holidaymakers abroad.
"We will know by tomorrow (Sunday) if agreement is reached," the source told AFP.
Conservative Party minister Brandon Lewis told Sky News on Sunday that it would be "inappropriate" for him to comment on the negotiations, but said that he hoped "they come to a positive conclusion".
The firm's shareholders and creditors were to meet from 9 am (0800 GMT) on Sunday, with a meeting of the board of directors due to be held in the afternoon.
The Transport Salaried Staffs Association, which represents workers at the company, called on the government to rescue the firm.
"It is incumbent upon the government to act if required and save this iconic cornerstone of the British high street and the thousands of jobs that go with it," said TSSA General Secretary, Manuel Cortes.
"The company must be rescued no matter what."
Two years ago, the collapse of Monarch Airlines prompted the British government to take emergency action to return 110,000 stranded passengers, costing taxpayers some £60 million on hiring planes.
The government at the time described it as Britain's "biggest-ever peacetime repatriation".
- Jobs threatened -
Thousands of workers could also lose their jobs, with the company employing about 22,000 staff worldwide, including 9,000 in Britain.
Chinese peer Fosun, which was already the biggest shareholder in Thomas Cook, agreed last month to inject £450 million into the business.
In return, the Hong Kong-listed conglomerate acquired a 75 percent stake in Thomas Cook's tour operating division and 25 percent of its airline unit.
Thomas Cook in May revealed that first-half losses widened on a major write-down, caused in part by Brexit uncertainty that delayed summer holiday bookings. The group, which has around 600 stores across the UK, has also come under pressure from fierce online competition.
Cabinet maker Thomas Cook created the travel firm in 1841 to carry temperance supporters by train between British cities.
It soon began arranging foreign trips, being the first operator to take British travellers on escorted visits to Europe in 1855, to the United States in 1866 and on a round-the-world trips in 1872.
The company was also a pioneer in introducing "circular note" -- products that would later become traveller's cheques.
Thomas Cook, one of the world's oldest and largest travel companies, is holding talks with shareholders in a last-ditch bid to avoid going bankrupt.
A collapse could leave around 150,000 travellers from Britain stranded, along with tens of thousands of travellers from other countries. The British government may have to lease planes to get its citizens home.
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Thomas Cook needs NZ$398 million in extra funding to avoid a collapse.
Sunday's meeting, first reported by Sky News, is taking place at the London-based law firm Slaughter & May. Officials from Thomas Cook were not available for comment.
Thomas Cook confirmed on Friday it was seeking £200 million (NZ$398 million) in extra funding to avoid a collapse. It said it was in talks with stakeholders such as the Chinese shareholder Fosun.
The government is ready to fly holidaymakers back to the UK if tour operator Thomas Cook collapses, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said.
Mr Raab told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show contingency planning was in place to make sure no-one would be stranded.
But he dampened hopes of a government rescue bid for the firm.
Ministers did not "systematically step in" when businesses went under unless there was "a good strategic national interest", he said.
Mr Raab said he did not want to undermine the rescue talks that Thomas Cook is currently conducting with its biggest shareholder and creditors at City law firm Slaughter & May.
The tour operator could fall into administration within days unless it finds £200m in extra funds.
The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) union, which represents Thomas Cook staff, is urging the government to step in with a bail out amid fears the company's collapse could leave about 150,000 British tourists stranded.
Analysis
Katie Prescott, business correspondent
This meeting is crucial for Thomas Cook's survival.
If there is no agreement, then the decision to wind up the company will be taken at a Board meeting this evening. It's likely (looking at the precedent of Monarch's collapse) that any announcement about that will be made late at night, once all planes are on the ground. But the company doesn't have to announce anything until the markets open at 07:00 BST on Monday.
It's low season at the moment, the time of year when Thomas Cook has to pay its suppliers for the busy summer season just gone. Hoteliers are paid on 60 to 90-day terms, once travellers have already taken their holidays. The nightmare scenario is that hoteliers who don't think they will get paid might turn out the people staying with them.
However, it is worth re-stating that the company is still trading. People are still holidaying with Thomas Cook. And while we can assume the company is reining back marketing activity around last-minute deals and offers, until any announcement is made, it is business as usual.
The foreign secretary said he did not want talk of contingency planning to become "a self-fulfilling prophecy".
But he told the BBC the government had learned lessons from the collapse of the Monarch airline in 2017. The UK's consular authorities abroad were ready to assist, he said.
A government spokesperson said: "We recognise it's a worrying time for holidaymakers and employees.
"The financial circumstances of individual businesses are a commercial matter, but the government and the Civil Aviation Authority are monitoring the situation closely."
'Being held hostage'
Meanwhile, holidaymakers staying at a hotel in Tunisia owed money by Thomas Cook have reportedly been prevented from leaving the resort until it has been paid.
Guests at the Les Orangers beach resort in the town of Hammamet, near Tunis, said the hotel was refusing to let them leave because of concerns about Thomas Cook's future.
Customers have reported that the hotel is asking visitors to pay extra money amid fears it will not be paid what it is owed by the tour operator for bookings.
Ryan Farmer, from Leicestershire, told BBC Radio 5 Live the hotel demanded all guests who were due to leave go to reception "to pay additional fees, obviously because of the situation with Thomas Cook".
Security guards closed the hotel's gates as guests refused to pay the extra fee, Mr Farmer claims.
He told the Stephen Nolan show: "I'd describe it as exactly the same as being held hostage."
Thomas Cook customers have been reminded on social media that they have Atol protection - a fund paid for through industry levies - "in the event that Thomas Cook goes into administration".
The travel firm also reassured customers on Saturday night that flights continue to operate as normal.
Rescue call
One of the world's largest travel companies, Thomas Cook was founded in 1841 to operate temperance day trips, and now has annual sales of £9bn.
It employs 22,000 staff, 9,000 of whom are in the UK, and serves 19 million customers a year in 16 different countries.
There are currently 600,000 Thomas Cook customers on holiday, of which 150,000 to 160,000 are British.
TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes has called on Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom to help Thomas Cook "no matter what", saying it would save thousands of jobs.
Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long Bailey said "the government must consider stepping in and taking an equity stake to avoid this crisis".
Wedding worries
Chloe Hardy from Leicestershire is due to get married in Zante in October and booked the wedding package with Thomas Cook back in June 2018.
Chloe and her fiance will also have 33 family members flying out, with their trips costing more than £33,000 in total.
With the big day looming, Chloe is frustrated by Thomas Cook's handling of their booking.
"We are unsure if we will be able to fly... This is causing great concern, worry and stress to all of us involved."
Thomas Cook's financial difficulties have mounted over the past year, culminating with the agreement in August of a rescue deal led by its biggest shareholder Fosun.
In July, it produced a business plan saying that it needed £900m in refinancing, up from a previous estimate of £150m. The £900m would come from Fosun, the group of creditors and some other investors.
The group of lenders then commissioned an independent investigation. Its financial advisers said Thomas Cook would require an additional £200m on top of the £900m already required, which would bring the total refinancing needed up to £1.1bn.
Thomas Cook succeeded in finding a backer to provide the additional £200m, but the BBC understands it has since pulled out.
The firm has blamed a series of problems for its profit warnings, including political unrest in holiday destinations such as Turkey, last summer's prolonged heatwave and customers delaying booking holidays because of Brexit.
What are your rights?
If you are on a package holiday you are covered by the Air Travel Organiser's Licence scheme (Atol).
The scheme will pay for your accommodation abroad, although you may have to move to a different hotel or apartment.
Atol will also pay to have you brought home if the airline is no longer operating.
If you have holiday booked in the future you will also be refunded by the scheme.
If you have booked a flight-only deal you will need to apply to your travel insurance company or credit card and debit card provider to seek a refund.
When Monarch Airlines collapsed in 2017, the government organised to bring home all the stranded passengers, whether they were covered by Atol or not.
Are you a Thomas Cook customer or member of staff? If you've been affected by the issues raised here, you can get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
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But there is more humble theory of history, one that traces great cataclysms to tidal forces mightier than the men and women tasked to contain them. According to this school of thought, some man-made events are as inevitable as the earthquake that result when one tectonic plate breaks free of another.
The UAW's ongoing strike against General Motors, which entered its fourth day Thursday, is certainly one of these.
A season of unrest
Say what you will about the corruption at the top of the union or the oblivious greed of GM's incumbent corporate leaders: This is a strike that needed to happen, a ritualized reckoning that may or may not have come in time to avert a wider and more unpredictable confrontation between workers and employers.
Those who focus narrowly on the auto industry regard the strike as an unpleasant interruption in a period of sustained cooperation between U.S. automakers and the UAW — an unexpected and unnecessary escalation of hostilities between antagonists who haven't faced off in a national strike since before the 2008 recession.
More: Former UAW Lordstown worker does double picket duty in strike against GM
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The UAW's members, it seems, are not the only workers whose wages have not kept up with inflation, and theirs is not the only industry in which employment and benefits have failed to match the pace of corporate earnings.
According to the Gallup organization, popular support for unions is hovering above 60%, a 50-year high. That's more than half-again the 40% approval rating Donald Trump enjoys on a good day, and helps explain why, when workers strike in 2019, a majority of their neighbors are rooting for them.
[ Following the GM strike? Download our app for the latest news.]
Striking for the middle class
The immediate objectives of GM's striking workers are specific: Persuade their employer to keep jobs in the United States, to revive the domestic factories it plans to shutter — er, that is, un-allocate — in Michigan, Ohio and Maryland, and to diminish its reliance on temporary employees who earn lower wages and enjoy fewer job benefits than their permanent counterparts.
The company says it needs flexibility to navigate the technological and economic headwinds that nearly destroyed it a decade ago. Workers counter that their sacrifices were critical to GM's recovery, and that they are determined to secure a larger share of the $35 billion profit GM has logged in the last three years.
But the laborers my Free Press newsroom colleagues talk to on the picket lines regularly expressed their desire to strike a blow in a broader struggle against income inequality, regressive taxes and anti-labor government policies.
Dominique Birdsong, who builds Chevrolet Silverados at the Flint Assembly Plant, told Free Press auto writer Phoebe Wall Howard she and her colleagues are striking on behalf of neglected workers across America.
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A scarcity of credibility
If the interests at stake transcend those of UAW members, the GM strike is taking place in the context of a federal investigation that has implicated the union's top leaders in promoting a culture of corruption. That probably made it harder for UAW leaders to sell any offer GM made before the strike as the best available.
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Trump surely understands that this strike is a product of employee resentment that reverberates far beyond GM's factories. His own election may be seen, in hindsight, as an earlier (and equally inevitable) consequence of that resentment.
Whether the strike precipitates a quick settlement that defuses labor's anger or a prolonged war of attrition that inflames it depends not just on GM's next moves, but also on whether corporate leaders outside the auto industry recognize that their own gated communities are also under siege.
The UAW's members aren't the only workers looking for signs their employers can read the writing on the wall.
Brian Dickerson is the Editorial Page Editor of the Free Press. Contact him at bdickerson@freepress.com.
