Another Reason to Hate Virgin Media

Usain Bolt should be ashamed of himself.

Not only does Virgin Media make loads of money through a variety of hidden charges (late payment charge, non- Direct Debit charge and so on), they also don’t recognize unions.

I remember reading how Virgin Media had derecognized the Communication Workers Union (CWU) last year.

Since Virgin Media made the outrageous declaration before Christmas, the union and its reps at the company have been out all over the country, despite the snow and ice, distributing leaflets, explaining the situation and encouraging staff to join the union. CWU has also launched a special offer for new members at a discounted rate of £4.99 a month for their first year.

This has resulted in a boost in membership as staff at Virgin Media increasingly realise the benefit of an independent, democratically accountable trade union over a staff forum set up by the company.

Union Home reported that:

Virgin Media bombarded its staff with company propaganda in letters, emails and website messages, at compulsory briefings with company directors and even phonecalls from managers to employees who had not yet voted. How did they know? Was this not an anonymous process? And if managers knew who had voted, did they also know which way they voted? These were some of the concerns being passed to us by employees. The company did allow us a short statement on their intranet (described as ‘very difficult to find’ by one employee). We’re told that managers are receiving a break-down of the voting results to see who got the ‘right’ result for the company. What they will do with the information is anyone’s guess.

This is the modus operandi of a union-busting company. They disseminate anti-union propaganda among the workforce and coerce them into accepting inferior pay and working conditions through a combination of lies, smears, bullying and intimidation.  They even held a referendum… it was rigged.

For years, Richard Branson has cultivated a media image as a cuddly capitalist who looks after his workers.  But capitalists rarely care for their workers and Branson, who throws a strop when people refuse to bend over for him, has been employing union-busters for years.

Here’s Branson pleading with workers to throw away their rights. Note the easy smarm. Note the oily charm.

This article from The Daily Mirror shows just how ruthless and grasping Virgin Media is.

A broadband bill has gone viral online after a man was charged an extra £10 – for being DEAD.

Furious Jim Boyden posted a photograph of his late father-in-law’s Virgin Media bill on Facebook after the company added a fine for late payment.

The image was accompanied by a message to Virgin which apologised for his father-in-law having “the unheard of nerve to be dead and therefore being unable to pay you.”

The picture, posted on Monday, has now been shared by more than 84,000 times.

The bill breakdown shows “D.D Denied-Payer deceased” next to a charge of £63.89, referring to the fact that the dead man’s bank had declined the payment.

As a result, Virgin Media added a “late payment charge” of £10 to the bill.

This blog from Nicholas Shaxson tells us that Virgin Enterprises, the company that sells the Virgin brand to other companies, so they can pose as fully-fledged Virgin companies, moved its operations from London to Geneva.

How important is this kind of abusive tax practice to the Virgin empire? Well, it’s hard to know exactly, but in 2002 Branson was quoted in this way:

“Virgin’s offshore status has been crucial to its development: it allowed money to move from business to business without massive tax liabilities. “If we had not done it the way that we did, Virgin would be half the size that it is today,” argues Branson.”

So overall the rich get richer, the poor get poorer markets get distorted, and there is no net benefit to the world of any kind. Quite the opposite.

People like Branson get awards all the time. No doubt he’s a good businessman in some ways. But this stuff counts as a serious, serious black mark against his name, during these times of national strife.

What is interesting about this is the comments under the Telegraph story – readers are generally a right-wing bunch, but most of the ones, at least at the top, are unremittingly hostile to Branson’s move. Perhaps that comes more from feelings of patriotism than anything else, but still, it’s interesting.

Even if they’ve relocated to Geneva, isn’t it time Virgin’s offices were occupied?

This Christmas give Amazon a miss

Amazon refuses to recognize unions

The festive season is upon us. Many of us are thinking of buying presents for loved ones (if we can afford them) and some of us may be thinking of using the Internet to make our purchases. The most popular company on the Internet is Amazon, a US-owned multinational company, which dominates the web shopping market.

But how many people know that Amazon employs union busters? Amazon does all it can to ensure unions are not recognized in its massive facility in Bedfordshire.

Housman’s Bookshop in London has a very interesting page dedicated to union-busting activities at Amazon. It tells us that,

Amazon have a little-reported, but undeniable record of preventing their work force from unionising. In 2001, Amazon.co.uk hired a US management consultancy organisation, The Burke Group, to assist in defeating a campaign by the Graphical, Paper and Media Union (GPMU, now part of Unite the Union) to achieve recognition in the Milton Keynes distribution depot. It was alleged that the company sacked four union members during the 2001 recognition drive and held a series of captive meetings with employees.

Also In 2001, 850 employees in Seattle were laid off by Amazon.com after a unionisation drive. The Washington Alliance of Technological Workers (WashTech) accused the company of violating union laws, and claimed Amazon managers subjected them to intimidation and heavy propaganda.

UK union organiser Peter Lockhart said: “Behind the shiny facade of Amazon and the internet are poor pay, poor conditions, poor communications and poor management. It is anything but ‘new age’ inside that distribution centre.”

According to Unite the Union, Amazon continues to this day to see trade union representation as illegitimate.

The source for the above paragraph comes from this Guardian article dated 26 February 2008. This paragraph is particularly illuminating,

The very up-front Burke Group (TBG) of Malibu, California, whose website proudly advertises its expertise in “union avoidance consulting, counter-union campaigns, supervisory training, union vulnerability assessments, card signing mitigation, anti-corporate campaigns and more”, was reportedly active in eight UK companies between 2001 and 2003, and no one was any the wiser until after the recognition campaign was over.

US-based union-busting companies have made considerable inroads into Britain.  The companies, like The Burke Group, describe themselves euphemistically  as  “labor relations companies”.  Some of the names here may surprise you. Others may not.

Companies such as Amazon.co.uk, Honeywell, Calor Gas, T-Mobile and Virgin Atlantic have all made use of TBG’s services, according to Logan’s study, which cites data obtained from the consultancy’s website before it was password-protected. Amicus union officials at another company, GE Caledonian, said they were “blown out of the water” when workers there unexpectedly rejected the union. More recently, the consultancy carried the day at Kettle Chips in Norwich. The workforce at the company, which is owned by the private equity company Lion Capital, includes many immigrants and last year voted by 206 to 93 not to join Britain’s biggest union, Unite.

Sir Tidy Beard hires union busters

A lot of people like to think of Richard Branson as a nice guy. It’s the tidy beard and the jumpers that fool people. “Oh, he’s just a hippy”. They’re the worst. Beneath the cosy exterior lies the beating heart of a hard-nosed capitalist.

Amazon also advertises this book on its site. In the synopsis it says that it,

“Offers a behind-the-scenes look at how major corporations use their power to destroy worker’s unions and shows how unions are actually good for business and for the country”.

Someone should tell that to Amazon .

With Boris Johnson recently calling for a review of Britain’s draconian labour laws, the Tories’ thirst for union-busting has never been greater. On the one hand they will claim that it is a worker’s right to join a trade union but, on the other hand, if that union’s members should take industrial action, it’s a different matter. The workers  and their union will be smeared and some employers will even find a way of dismissing striking workers on trumped up charges.

This is the ugly face of consumerism. Cheap goods delivered to your door at the cost of worker’s rights.