In a dispute over health and safety after changes to their rest breaks, Thomas Cook cabin crew are voting on possible strike action during the May half-term school holiday.

More than 1,000 cabin crews have begun voting in a ballot for industrial action, according to Unite, Britain’s largest union, against a decision that would allow cabin crew a one 20-minute break over 12 hours.

Putting passenger safety at risk, the cabin crew were being pushed to the limit in an attempt to maximise profits which has led to mounting concerns Unite said. A “repeated refusal to agree to talks and reach a sensible negotiated solution” is the allegation that it accused the travel company of.

“We would like to reassure our customers that nothing matters more to us than safety. It’s regrettable the union has chosen this path because the crew rest procedure, which includes monitoring all crew rest on all flights, was introduced with the agreement of the union. It also meets the regulations of industry experts the Civil Aviation Authority and does not compromise on safety,” a Thomas Cook spokesperson said.

“We have offered to meet union representatives and the message we hear directly from our crew is that they’re looking forward to a great summer of flying customers on holiday,” the spokesperson added.

The ballot of staff could lead to industrial action taking place during half term as the staff work on flights to popular tourist destinations from 10 airports across the UK closes on 25 May.

Work shifts of 10-15 hours and up to 60 hours a week is the general work schedule of the cabin crew. Safety and security checks, boarding, inflight service of headsets, pre-flight preparations, drinks, food, duty-free sales and other promotions are some of the work that are included in the shifts.

Earlier, the staff was entitled to a 20-minute break every six hours, the union said.

An Airshoppen service has been introduced by Thomas Cook. Passengers are allowed to order goods online before their flights and have them delivered to their seats in this additional inflight service. Collecting payment during the flight and the cabin crew sorting and bagging orders before takeoff are included in this. The service could take up to two hours to deliver, Unite said.

“Our members are deeply concerned about the impact these changes to rest breaks are having on inflight safety. Fatigue is a major contributory factor to accidents and slower response times when there is an incident,” the union’s national officer, Oliver Richardson said.

“The primary purpose of cabin crew is the safety of passengers, but instead Thomas Cook seems intent on working them to the bone to extract as much money as possible out of passengers at the expense of safety,” Richardson added.

(Adapted from The Guardian)