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Sir Richard Branson sent a rather unusual letter to the 4,800 long-haul cabin crew of Virgin Atlantic that are talking about continued pay demands.

Branson, who no longer runs the airline on a day-to-day basis, pointed out that history is “littered with carriers that have gone bust� as the result of pay disputes between staff and management.

Virgin Atlantic had offered cabin crew a 8.3% increase over the next two years and while union bosses agreed to the deal, employees want more.

Richard Branson told employees “’To go further would result in unacceptable risks and would set a dangerous precedent to the company as a whole.â€?

“It would be irresponsible of our management and they, rightly, are not going to take that risk.�

“For some of you more pay than Virgin Atlantic can afford may be critical to your lifestyle and if that is the case you should consider working elsewhere.�

It is unusual to see an employer recognize that pay correlates to lifestyle maintenance.

I’m sure their are deeper issues going on here but at some point when does management say that’s all we can do without jeopardizing the airline. Maybe management is just being honest here and laying their cards out on the table.

The relationship between employer and employee is an interesting one. Over the years I’ve observed a shift in people that work, not for me, to one of an attitude of what is the company going to do for me? Often lost is the fact that a company hires an employee and compensates that employee to perform a task, a job. Employees are hired for their labor, not their connivence.

Now as an employer myself I would think that my employees would say that I bend over backwards to be reasonable and understanding.

In fact just yesterday we discovered that a bank error was delaying the direct deposit of employee paychecks for two days so instead I sent duplicate deposits by wire transfer into the employee accounts so they had their money on the day promised.

Being a good employer sometimes means that you have to say ‘no’ and it looks like that is exactly what Sir Richard has said.

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Steve

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