Can I just say that, to put this in to context, I have been flying with BA for 23 years and I think CC have been joking about eye-drops in pilots dinner for most of them. Thats not to say that it is acceptable, or even that it is ever done; what can be said as a joke in the galley though does not translate well in black and white. Most of the 'guilty' crew in this category never intended this as a threat, or even that it would be construed as such. If anything it was a poorly timed joke and, if english is not their first language then they may not have realised how it could be misconstrued. Am I the only one who thinks this?
Ottergirl
if these were jokes, than you are right the timing was VERY poor, but hopefully the disciplinary process (which has been approved by Unite) should be robust enough to ensure that those crew involved understand that it was inappropriate and will be able to go back to work.
Whatever the reasons though, intimidating someone, even if not mean as intimidation should not be tolerated. It is a fact that a lot of the volunteers were used to ensure there was no threat to cabin crew, and this was implemented following feedback by cabin crew feedback. One could even go as far as suggest that those who are perceived to be bullying or intimidating people do not mean to do it, but the intention sometimes is not enough to justify the outcome.
If people felt threatened because an inappropriate joke was made at the wrong time, than they should be made responsible. There is a process and guidelines to be followed to ensure that the consequences are in line with the actions.It is irrelevant what I or anybody else thinks.
When the company has a vendetta, it's just best to be extremely careful what you say (in black and white - everything else can be denied)
G
uys can you please get yourselves sorted? On one side there is crew saying that CC are sobbing due to being left out by peers, scared of coming to work because of other CC, messages being left to intimidate.
HOWEVER if the company steps in and acts on what has been reported then, of course, BA has a vendetta, even though it is following a process that was approved by golden Unite!
I wander what would have happened if BA had done nothing? I clearly don't know for sure but I can imagine the comments along the lines of "WW does not care for our safety" "they just want us to come to work and do not care who gets hurt!" and so on. (hopefully I am wrong, but I have been moved to this attitude by the comments seen here).
Surely the way to look at this is that NOBODY would want a SILLY joke to ruin somebody else's life to the point of that person being scared of going to work, be it a volunteer or something else.
I know you have gone to work during the strike and you probably are a strong person, but don't forget that it seems that there are many other crew that are not as strong, and with regards to volunteers... well making a joke about somebody else's family is not only inappropriate is plain irresponsible, especially when there are all sort of negative attitude towards volunteers, (As proved by the march on the Arora, the whole scabs chanting etc.)
So please stop saying the company has a vendetta: you either want BA to do something about addressing the issues and concerns of your fellow BA workers or not. Simple.
I am BA employee but these are my views and my views only!