Difficult Days Ahead
I have read the 25 or so pages of this thread with interest and have watched both union and VS management turn up the pressure on the cabin crew in what sometimes seems to be akin to bullying and that is coming from both sides! There is a war of brinkmanship going on and both sides are catching the cabin crew in the crossfire.
What is about to happen at VS is the destruction of friendships, relationships and working practices that have been built up since Virgin despatched its first flight. Strikes put people against each other; friend against friend, colleague against colleague. When the situation is resolved the union guys and management will get back together and resolve their differences but will that happen between the crew members themselves? You bet it won't. Grudges will be borne, differences not forgotten and relationships destroyed. Strikes are hugely divisive especially in an environment where the operation depends on successful team efforts.
MAGICE asked about entering company premises during a strike - quite simply you are not allowed in them! If you do, you can be either construed as reporting for work or be removed as a trespasser. Similarly you cannot use your company provided parking pass or you may be re-charged for your parking since you have withdrawn your labour and have no right to use the company provided parking permit!
I have been involved strikes in other areas of the transport industry and there is never a winner since strike puts crew member against crew member simply because they feel differently about a common issue and be under no illusion, the differences about who did what will not be forgotten quickly.
My thoughts are with all those girls and boys who have worked hard to get their wings and who enjoy doing their job who now feel intimidated or pressured by what the union and management are doing. Don't be fooled, this is a game both sides want to win, the union because they have to look good to their members - how many paid union officials are foregoing their salaries in support of the strikers? Similarly the company want to beat the union into submission. Perhaps the cabin crew should represent themselves?
In a company that is so concerned with its public image and how it is perceived, instead of trying to save the planet and appear to be "environmentally friendly, Richard should try and save his staff and appear to be an "employee friendly" employer. If you treat your staff like S**t, your customers perceive your operation as s**t, treat them well, look after them and make them happy at work, then it will bring you even more customers.
Of course that used to be the whole ethos of Virgin Atlantic, sadly it seems to have disappeared amid much chest beating and non stop TV adverts for Virgin Holidays.
Richard, through these forums and those of V-Flyer and the media, VS's dirty washing is being hung out in public. The boys at Waterside will be laughing all the way to the bank! The only way forward is compromise - Both sides should call in ACAS now, get round the table and hammer an acceptable deal before you lose all your key account business customers to others and all the excellent work done by all your crews is destroyed because people are playing power games!