Communication Technology

An article that appeared on Personnel Today about a recent civil service strike makes reference to Facebook and how employees who did not strike may do so if this continues to be the course of action taken by the PCS trade union.

Here are details of what is really supposed to have happened during the strike:

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) civil servants in Carlisle have alleged they were ordered to imitate answerphones between 12pm and 2pm on Monday, so that when callers got through, the workers would say: "Due to the high volume of enquiries we are currently experiencing, we are unable to take your call".

And here's how details of this management tactic became known to strikers and the media:

The claim, widely discussed on social networking site Facebook, is said to have made non-strikers consider joining the strike – which lasted two days between 8 Monday and 9 Tuesday March – over changes to the civil service redundancy terms.

For more details see Non-striking civil servants 'pretended to be answering machines' to handle volume of calls.

Internet McCarthyism - this is the term used by the Unite trade union towards British Airways, who have recently suspended 15 flight attendants for writing Facebook comments and sending private emails about a "name and shame" list of pilots who volunteered to help break possible upcoming strikes.

It seems a very messy affair that is perhaps best understood by reading the following article - BA suspends cabin staff in Facebook row over list of strike-breaking pilots (by Caroline Davis, The Guardian).