Monday, November 03, 2008
Thirteen gagged by Virgin Atlantic.
From the BBC...Page last updated at 19:11 GMT, Friday, 31 October 2008...
Crew sacked over Facebook posts
Thirteen cabin crew staff have been sacked by Virgin Atlantic over their use of a social networking website, it has emerged.
It launched disciplinary action last week following claims staff had used Facebook to criticise its safety standards and call passengers "chavs".
The airline said the crew's behaviour "brought the company into disrepute".
It is understood the messages, which have now been removed, related to planes flying from Gatwick.
Virgin Atlantic started an investigation last Thursday after messages reportedly appeared on Facebook that called its passengers "chavs".
They also reportedly claimed the planes were full of cockroaches and alleged the airline's jet engines were replaced four times in one year.
In a statement, the airline said: "Virgin Atlantic can confirm that 13 members of its cabin crew will be leaving the company after breaking staff policies due to totally inappropriate behaviour.
"Following a thorough investigation, it was found that all 13 staff participated in a discussion on the networking site Facebook, which brought the company into disrepute and insulted some of our passengers.
"It is impossible for these cabin crew members to uphold [our] high standards of customer service... if they hold these views."
A spokesman for the airline added that there was "a time and a place for Facebook".
"There is no justification for it to be used as a sounding board for staff of any company to criticise the very passengers who ultimately pay their salaries.
"We have numerous internal channels for our staff to feed back legitimate and appropriate issues relating to the company."
...Well, well, the right to free speech in this country is slowly but surely being eroded away. I feel that Virgin Atlantic is wrong to sack 13 of it's staff for activities that took place out of work hours and the workplace. More and more workplace bloggers have been gagged, what is our society coming to? Companies buy not only your time but your thoughts. What freedoms have we got left?
I believe these 13 crew members were conscientious and loyal because they cared sufficiently about their work and responsibilities to write about them. It is okay for Virgin Atlantic to claim ""We have numerous internal channels for our staff to feed back legitimate and appropriate issues relating to the company." but anyone working within the travel industry knows that defect reports and other feedback from staff is ignored. Management do not want feedback from their employees, they just want them to shut up. This is lip service from management who do not want whistleblowers making their concerns public by posting them on the internet.
If Virgin Atlantic had given a quiet word without disciplinary action to these 13 cabin crew members then the whole issue of cockroaches, jet engine replacement and chavs would not have become public knowledge. The spotlight that has shone on Virgin Atlantic does it's reputation no good and now the public knows that it is company policy to keep the public in the dark and their staff sworn to secrecy.
So then Richard Branson, pasted below are newspaper reports to show the public just how you manage your company and it's employees. I totally agree with Simon Calder in his report in today's Independent.
Simon Calder writes on 3rd November 2008 ...
We are rotten travellers, so BA staff are right to complain.
You will know, or can imagine, how lousy you feel at the end of a long-haul overnight flight. After a dozen hours or more at altitude from Asia, Africa or America, everyone and everything on board a plane is in poor shape. And if you think the experience is unwholesome from the passenger's perspective, imagine how it feels, as a member of cabin crew, to have your working environment trashed by thoughtless, untidy people whose civility evaporates with every fitful hour in flight.
The big surprise is not that Virgin Atlantic cabin crew and British Airways ground staff should wish to bitch about unwholesome passengers; this is something they have done, in private, for years. What is remarkable is that the airlines' managers should castigate their employees for venting via Facebook some of the many frustrations of working in the industry.
Virgin Atlantic has dismissed 13 cabin crew who branded passengers as "chavs" on the social networking site. In my experience, Virgin's staff are always friendly and forgiving while on duty. If they choose to disparage some of us when out of uniform, who can blame them? Some of BA's ground staff at Gatwick have created their own forum for getting their own back at the passengers who clench passports and tickets in their teeth and hand the saliva-sodden documents to check-in agents.
"We will be talking to the individuals concerned involved about their disappointing and unwise comments, which are completely unrepresentative of the vast majority of hard-working staff at London Gatwick," said a spokesman for BA.
Why bother? The term "long-suffering" could have been invented to describe the people who work in aviation. As a nation, we are the world's greatest passengers, numerically speaking, and some of the worst in personal behaviour. I have been employed at Gatwick in several capacities. While frisking passengers you become intimately aware of differing standards of personal hygiene; and when you see, from a cleaner's perspective, the condition the average aircraft cabin is left in after a long flight, you need some means of assuaging your sense of revulsion. Facebook could provide the answer.
With fares, passengers have never had it so good. Conversely, in terms of working conditions, aviation staff face increasing demands from management and passengers. Give them a break.
And Lawrence Conway writes in Saturday's Independent ...
Virgin Atlantic sacks 13 staff for calling its flyers 'chavs'
Facebook blog insulted passengers and claimed aircraft had cockroaches
Virgin Atlantic has sacked 13 flight attendants for criticising the airline's flight safety standards and describing its passengers as "chavs" on a social networking website.
The staff were dismissed yesterday as Sir Richard Branson's company said their behaviour was "totally inappropriate" and had "brought the company into disrepute". In a statement, the airline said: "Virgin Atlantic can confirm that 13 members of its cabin crew will be leaving the company after breaking staff policies due to totally inappropriate behaviour.
"Following a thorough investigation, it was found that all 13 staff participated in a discussion on the networking site Facebook, which brought the company into disrepute and insulted some of our passengers."
Virgin Atlantic launched its investigation last Thursday after the messages were posted by members of the Facebook group, which has now been removed, about flights from Gatwick. The online messages also reportedly claimed the airline's jet engines were replaced four times in one year and that planes were full of cockroaches.
The five Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747s based at Gatwick are among the newest 747s flying worldwide.
A spokesman for the airline said: "There is a time and a place for Facebook. But there is no justification for it to be used as a sounding board for staff of any company to criticise the very passengers who pay their salaries."
He added: "We have numerous internal channels for our staff to feed back legitimate and appropriate issues relating to the company."
The cabin crew are not the first people to lose their jobs over indiscreet online postings about their employers. In June James Brennan was fired from his job at Waitrose in central London after writing an obscene remark about the "Partnership" – referring to the John Lewis Partnership, which owns the chain, on the site. He thought his views were only visible to his online friends, but a colleague printed off the remark and showed it to his boss, who fired him on the spot.
In August last year an Argos employee was also sacked for criticising his bosses online. Tom Beech, 20, was fed-up after a bad day at work so he logged on to the social networking site and set up "I Work At Argos And Can't Wait To Leave Because It's Shit".
Ex-workers have also used the site to launch attacks on former employers, as seen in the case of the directory enquiry service 118 118. They launched a Facebook group to moan about former bosses which rapidly turned into a repository for scornful comments about customers.
In August last year the group, which called itself "Survivors of 118 118", was removed, as senior management at the parent company The Number UK conducted an investigation into it.
From the BBC...Page last updated at 19:11 GMT, Friday, 31 October 2008...
Crew sacked over Facebook posts
Thirteen cabin crew staff have been sacked by Virgin Atlantic over their use of a social networking website, it has emerged.
It launched disciplinary action last week following claims staff had used Facebook to criticise its safety standards and call passengers "chavs".
The airline said the crew's behaviour "brought the company into disrepute".
It is understood the messages, which have now been removed, related to planes flying from Gatwick.
Virgin Atlantic started an investigation last Thursday after messages reportedly appeared on Facebook that called its passengers "chavs".
They also reportedly claimed the planes were full of cockroaches and alleged the airline's jet engines were replaced four times in one year.
In a statement, the airline said: "Virgin Atlantic can confirm that 13 members of its cabin crew will be leaving the company after breaking staff policies due to totally inappropriate behaviour.
"Following a thorough investigation, it was found that all 13 staff participated in a discussion on the networking site Facebook, which brought the company into disrepute and insulted some of our passengers.
"It is impossible for these cabin crew members to uphold [our] high standards of customer service... if they hold these views."
A spokesman for the airline added that there was "a time and a place for Facebook".
"There is no justification for it to be used as a sounding board for staff of any company to criticise the very passengers who ultimately pay their salaries.
"We have numerous internal channels for our staff to feed back legitimate and appropriate issues relating to the company."
...Well, well, the right to free speech in this country is slowly but surely being eroded away. I feel that Virgin Atlantic is wrong to sack 13 of it's staff for activities that took place out of work hours and the workplace. More and more workplace bloggers have been gagged, what is our society coming to? Companies buy not only your time but your thoughts. What freedoms have we got left?
I believe these 13 crew members were conscientious and loyal because they cared sufficiently about their work and responsibilities to write about them. It is okay for Virgin Atlantic to claim ""We have numerous internal channels for our staff to feed back legitimate and appropriate issues relating to the company." but anyone working within the travel industry knows that defect reports and other feedback from staff is ignored. Management do not want feedback from their employees, they just want them to shut up. This is lip service from management who do not want whistleblowers making their concerns public by posting them on the internet.
If Virgin Atlantic had given a quiet word without disciplinary action to these 13 cabin crew members then the whole issue of cockroaches, jet engine replacement and chavs would not have become public knowledge. The spotlight that has shone on Virgin Atlantic does it's reputation no good and now the public knows that it is company policy to keep the public in the dark and their staff sworn to secrecy.
So then Richard Branson, pasted below are newspaper reports to show the public just how you manage your company and it's employees. I totally agree with Simon Calder in his report in today's Independent.
Simon Calder writes on 3rd November 2008 ...
We are rotten travellers, so BA staff are right to complain.
You will know, or can imagine, how lousy you feel at the end of a long-haul overnight flight. After a dozen hours or more at altitude from Asia, Africa or America, everyone and everything on board a plane is in poor shape. And if you think the experience is unwholesome from the passenger's perspective, imagine how it feels, as a member of cabin crew, to have your working environment trashed by thoughtless, untidy people whose civility evaporates with every fitful hour in flight.
The big surprise is not that Virgin Atlantic cabin crew and British Airways ground staff should wish to bitch about unwholesome passengers; this is something they have done, in private, for years. What is remarkable is that the airlines' managers should castigate their employees for venting via Facebook some of the many frustrations of working in the industry.
Virgin Atlantic has dismissed 13 cabin crew who branded passengers as "chavs" on the social networking site. In my experience, Virgin's staff are always friendly and forgiving while on duty. If they choose to disparage some of us when out of uniform, who can blame them? Some of BA's ground staff at Gatwick have created their own forum for getting their own back at the passengers who clench passports and tickets in their teeth and hand the saliva-sodden documents to check-in agents.
"We will be talking to the individuals concerned involved about their disappointing and unwise comments, which are completely unrepresentative of the vast majority of hard-working staff at London Gatwick," said a spokesman for BA.
Why bother? The term "long-suffering" could have been invented to describe the people who work in aviation. As a nation, we are the world's greatest passengers, numerically speaking, and some of the worst in personal behaviour. I have been employed at Gatwick in several capacities. While frisking passengers you become intimately aware of differing standards of personal hygiene; and when you see, from a cleaner's perspective, the condition the average aircraft cabin is left in after a long flight, you need some means of assuaging your sense of revulsion. Facebook could provide the answer.
With fares, passengers have never had it so good. Conversely, in terms of working conditions, aviation staff face increasing demands from management and passengers. Give them a break.
And Lawrence Conway writes in Saturday's Independent ...
Virgin Atlantic sacks 13 staff for calling its flyers 'chavs'
Facebook blog insulted passengers and claimed aircraft had cockroaches
Virgin Atlantic has sacked 13 flight attendants for criticising the airline's flight safety standards and describing its passengers as "chavs" on a social networking website.
The staff were dismissed yesterday as Sir Richard Branson's company said their behaviour was "totally inappropriate" and had "brought the company into disrepute". In a statement, the airline said: "Virgin Atlantic can confirm that 13 members of its cabin crew will be leaving the company after breaking staff policies due to totally inappropriate behaviour.
"Following a thorough investigation, it was found that all 13 staff participated in a discussion on the networking site Facebook, which brought the company into disrepute and insulted some of our passengers."
Virgin Atlantic launched its investigation last Thursday after the messages were posted by members of the Facebook group, which has now been removed, about flights from Gatwick. The online messages also reportedly claimed the airline's jet engines were replaced four times in one year and that planes were full of cockroaches.
The five Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747s based at Gatwick are among the newest 747s flying worldwide.
A spokesman for the airline said: "There is a time and a place for Facebook. But there is no justification for it to be used as a sounding board for staff of any company to criticise the very passengers who pay their salaries."
He added: "We have numerous internal channels for our staff to feed back legitimate and appropriate issues relating to the company."
The cabin crew are not the first people to lose their jobs over indiscreet online postings about their employers. In June James Brennan was fired from his job at Waitrose in central London after writing an obscene remark about the "Partnership" – referring to the John Lewis Partnership, which owns the chain, on the site. He thought his views were only visible to his online friends, but a colleague printed off the remark and showed it to his boss, who fired him on the spot.
In August last year an Argos employee was also sacked for criticising his bosses online. Tom Beech, 20, was fed-up after a bad day at work so he logged on to the social networking site and set up "I Work At Argos And Can't Wait To Leave Because It's Shit".
Ex-workers have also used the site to launch attacks on former employers, as seen in the case of the directory enquiry service 118 118. They launched a Facebook group to moan about former bosses which rapidly turned into a repository for scornful comments about customers.
In August last year the group, which called itself "Survivors of 118 118", was removed, as senior management at the parent company The Number UK conducted an investigation into it.
Comments:
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very much like you can say anything you want as long as we have thought it and approved it beforehand and it would not look out of place in the glossy annual company report. the degradation of our use of language is highlighted by our inability to relate "negative" or rather "reflective" views. everything has to be fakely positive. no wonder so many people feel disenfranchised from our society.
the internet though has been an unfulfilled promise. of expression and communication and education. and quite frankly another way of keeping an eye on folk.
the internet though has been an unfulfilled promise. of expression and communication and education. and quite frankly another way of keeping an eye on folk.
# posted by 
: 3 November 2008 at 19:07
: 3 November 2008 at 19:07
Oh yes, the internet is closely monitored by business AND our government. Nice to know that someone is being paid in both Birmingham and Cheltenham to read what I have posted on the internet!
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