I used to work for Virgin. Given, I knew full well what the money was like when I joined but maybe I was a lil naieve. I just thought thats what all airlines paid. In fact I thought that Virgin, with SRB as a boss probably paid the best of all! I got such a shock when I found out that cabin crew at other airlines were earning twice or three times what I was. But money isn't everything.
What sickened me most was the lack of recognition we got. We were constantly winning awards for best airline this and that, best cabin crew. SRB would make press statements about how he couldn't do it without the loyal support of his 'family' (ie. workers). The public had the perception that he was a fantastic boss, paid and treated his employees really well. All the same time, while SRB was climbing up the list of 'Forbes Richest Men' our conditions and pay were left languishing at the bottom of the pile. All the 'family' stuff was just for the cameras. He never gave anything back to his employees in terms of better pay or conditions.
The straw that broke the camels back was CC89. We were desperate to get a union in, any union. But SRB was TOTALLY against it. For obvious reasons. We had to fight tooth and nail to get the representation we wanted and without the law on our side, SRB would have kept the union out all together.
It seems all that fighting wasn't even worth it now though, if CC89 still dont have any strength in Virgin. A shame.