BA ‘admit staff bullying’
24.09.08
British Airways have admitted their staff face a culture of bullying and harassment, the Mirror reports. Heathrow based cabin crew member Adam Marley alleged that the admission came at a trade union meeting last week and that BA's acting head of in flight services, Mark Hassell, 'wants it sorted out fast.'
Mr Marley, an official for union Amicus, said: ‘It was said there is a problem of bullying and harassment. BA is looking for negotiations with unions over what to do. Mr Hassell made the comments knowing I was coming here [to the employment tribunal] today.’
Mr Marley appeared as a witness in the constructive dismissal claim of former £47,688-a-year cabin crew manager David Andersson-Wood, 45, at a tribunal in Reading. Gay Mr Andersson-Wood told of a catalogue of incidents when he was allegedly bullied and harassed over his sexuality by managers since joining BA in 1998.
He was told to ‘stop being a drama queen’, that he was ‘incompetent, weak and not fit to be a manager’ and denied rises. Mr Andersson-Wood, of Richmond, Surrey, resigned from BA in January 2007, but insists he was forced out.
Witness Lorena Castelino, a BA manager, said certain senior managers had ‘a poor reputation’.
BA is fighting Mr Andersson-Wood's claim. The case continues.
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