To be fair, ('cos I'm frequently highly critical of my employer) British Airways plc tries its hardest to be ethical in its treatment of employees. Like many companies, the interpretation of pettifogging "rules and regs" by individual managers causes disharmony within the ranks. The chronic lack of communication (which Rod Eddington is seeking to address) caused the chaos during the summer (the BA Board was completely unaware how short-staffed the front line actually was!).
However, here are a few points that I would like to make to justify my belief that BA is a good and ethical employer:
1. Genuine Equal Opportunities, regardless of gender, colour, religious beliefs, race, sexual orientation and disability. (The only area where disability was an impediment was a lovely wheelchair-bound girl at Gatwick who worked in the administrative offices. She wanted to work on check-in, but due to the terminal design (up and over access to the desks) the costs involved in converting desks for wheelchair access proved prohibitive!)
2. Genuine "No Redundancy" agreement. In this day and age, there are few companies who have never made redundancies. It is true that locations have been closed (Belfast being a recent example) and the redeployment offered (usually London Heathrow based) is not always practical, but what opportunities exist are always offered first!
3. Genuine Support for Sick Staff - BAHS (British Airways Health Services) exists for the support of staff returning to work after lengthy absence. Employed medically-qualified staff can offer "reduced hours", "light duties" and other conditions to ease staff members back into regular work.
Although concessionary Staff-Travel facilities are withdrwan during a period od sickness, BAHS have the authority to re-instate them if they believe a foreign holiday would assist recovery.
The recent "Absence Procedures" have had to be introduced due to the handful of employees who take the mickey and abuse the generosity of the company - to the extent that the average sickness per employee is 17 days per annum - and this area definitely needed bringing under control!
4. Genuine Help with Worthy Causes - Every year, BA makes available a sum of money for employees engaged in charitable work. Employees (say, someone who carries out voluntary work within a local Hospice) can apply to the company for a share of the money to go directly to the charity.
So, all in all. I think BA is a damned good company - shame about individual managers!