Contacts At Southwest

[shad boy]

I was wondering if anyone has contact information for Southwest Airlines complaint dept.

If you live in Dallas area there was a newspaper story about a man who has an outstanding track record working for Southwest. Sec. B pg. 1.
He was fired because at a christmas party his family has a joke of saying monkey instead of cheese. Well a black family was getting their picture taken and they said
"say monkey" and this family took offense. The man apoligized and explained he meant no harm.

The "offended family" has a brother (State Sen. Royce West) who made repeated calls to SW after this. LOng story short. he is fired. SW says they did an exhaustive investigation ( yeah right!!!) before they fired him. I have contacted the senators office and politely but firmly expressed my outrage over this political abuse.

I would like to find contact for SW to explain I will now do my best not to fly them.
Unfortuntly I have to use them on Tues because I already am booked. I fly quite a bit and will explain to them why I will avoid them now even if it means using my own time to fly another airline.

This is political correctness gone amuck. Colleen tries to appear as the mother type but I hope she does not know about this travesty. Because if she knows and still let it go on then I pity the people that work for the company.

Thanks,
Bruce

 

[KCFlyer]

Just write directly to Colleen at the corporate headquarters. They will read your letter. I read the same article. I think it's crap like this that sets race relations back. It's fine to ask folks to be sensitive. But some people are a little too overly sensitive.

 

[hobbes]

Hi, Bruce. Although I haven't read the story, I have heard about it. And if you want to get your point across to Southwest, then I would have to second what KCFlyer says.

In my heart, I hope there's more to this story than what was reported in the newpaper. But I would also suggest this: don't take everything you read in the newspaper as the gospel truth. There's always two or more sides to the story, and it sounds to me like Southwest didn't necessarily get the chance to tell theirs. Nor would they, since it was an internal investigation and the information gathered would be private, I imagine. Do you see how that can be a no-win situation, especially from a public relations standpoint? They don't defend their investigation to the newpaper, and they look overly aggressive. But if they share the information gathered in the investigation, then they violate the privacy of not one, but perhaps multiple people. How on earth could they justify their actions without violating others' privacy? I honestly have no idea.

So while I applaud you for your convictions, I would first seek to learn more of the story before jumping to the conclusion that this is another case of political correctness gone amuck, and deciding never to fly Southwest again. Because let's be honest: newpapers are hardly an unbiased form of the truth. And that's just my personal experience and opinion speaking.

(And if this gentleman was indeed unjustly fired, then I sincerely hope he gets his job back soon. )

 

[shad boy]

Hobbes,

I understand your position. However due to my bad typing skills I did not want to explain the full story. You will have to read it yourself. The columnist is Steve Blow.

In the article Southwest does talk about the investigation. They say that he freely admits saying "smile" "say monkey".

However he also freely admits saying it because a photographer the nite before at a party used it to make the kids smile. What was he doing at the party the nite before? It was a party for disabled childern of which his daughter is mentally retarded.

Also his neighbor and best friend is disgusted over the way he was treated.
His best friend says he isn't a racist. Oh just for clarification his best friend is African American.

There PR spokesman says this is why he was fired.

Don't know how it could be any more clear to me. I don't trust everything I read.


One of two things are happening here.
1. Southwest did not want the publicity that a state Sen. who has written many hate crimes bills (and which I applaud and support him on).
2. Or they just did not believe the mans story and are calling him a racist.

PLease read the story and then decide. I would forward the link but you have to sign up before you can read. (They want to spam you some more.)

 

[AAmech]

The article is in at www.dallasnews.com the columinist is "Steve Blow" who writes about local issues and is a very straight shooter. He's defintitly not a bomb thrower so I tend to belive what he has written. Whats happend to this Mechanic is sad and disgusting! It just goes to show that in Corporate America, even a good company like SWA, a white male constantly has to walk on eggshells because of the target on him. Hopefully his union can help him get his job back. But really, the only way to get thru to these companies is thru lawsuits hitting them HARD in the wallet! Otherwise their behavior will just never change. :down:

 

[mga707]

The "offended family" has a brother (State Sen. Royce West) who made repeated calls to SW after this. LOng story short. he is fired. SW says they did an exhaustive investigation ( yeah right!!!) before they fired him. I have contacted the senators office and politely but firmly expressed my outrage over this political abuse.

You're way more polite than I would've been. "Monkey" would've been by far the LEAST offensive term I'd have unloaded on this West bozo...

 

[shad boy]

Open letter to Colleen Barrett and SWA.

Dear Colleen Barrett,


I am sure by the time you receive this letter you may have received many more stating the same thing.

After reading the article by Steve Blow about the man who lost his job because he said the word “monkey†I am very disgusted with your company. Since I can only go by the article I will state the facts as I see them.

Since the man got to tell his story to your HR dept. and it was clear from him he meant absolutely no disrespect by it, and still he got fired, I can only draw the conclusion that your company does not care about “intent†it only cares about “contentâ€. You must not have believed your employee who has faithfully worked very hard to help make SW a success. While there are many words that can only be described as racially insensitive and can be taken only in the wrong way, “monkey†is not one of them. I think even the most “politically correct†among us will agree this is an everyday word that is used in everyday conversation.

If you believed his story then maybe you fired him under pressure from Sen. West. I am familiar with his hate crimes legislation and support and commend him for these bills.
However if you did succumb to pressure then that makes me even more disgusted with your company. Maybe you can give Sen. West a personal call and ask him to meet with the media and explain his side of the story. If there was no pressure from him then surely a call from you could persuade him to discuss what happened.

I only fly SW once or twice a month. However now I will go out of my way to avoid your airline at all cost, even if it means using some of my personal time. I will explain the story to the 8 people I work with, and fly the same as I do.

Will this hurt SW. No. Will me telling this story and trying to get a letter writing campaign going affect you. Maybe.
Will going onto the large forums made available by the internet get the word out. DEFINTELY.

I only want to ask you one question.
If after investigating the issue do you personally believe he said that word in any kind of a racial slur? If you truly believe he said it in a racial way then I will not bring this up again.

Before destroying a man’s life please investigate all of the facts and don’t act on limited information. Also since your PR dept. said that none of the Senators calls were to put pressure on SW then I am sure you would not mind having the person that he talked to available to the media to discuss the issue. What do think? Would you do this to clear up the issue for all of us? I am sure you will now give the party line how we do not discuss personnel decisions in public. However since your spokesman said it was fully investigated and your employee Kevin West decided to get his brother, a publicly elected official involved I would say that puts it the public realm whether or not you want it to be.

I would sincerely like for you to take a look at this and stand up for what is right here.
You and your company claim to of the people and for the people. “We are the little guyâ€.
“Our employees are some of the most satisfied in any industryâ€. ACTION not TALK.

Is an apology owed to Mr. West and family? Yes. Is an apology owed to Mr. Bogg? Yes.

 

[FlyStorms]

One of the ladies on my team was actually at the party and saw the incident. The newspaper cleaned it up considerably. The comment was much worse than what you saw written in the paper and the guy who said it had had too much to drink at the time. There was a lot more to the story than what the commentary in the paper displayed.

 

[shad boy]

Flyteams,

You are right, that we may not know all of the story.

However, when Mr. West involved his brother on a political level that made the story public domain.

Why will Sen. West not answer questions about his involvement. This is what scares me is some politicians have no qualms about using their power for personal gain. He should have told his brother that I can't get involved, you will have to work this out with Southwest. If for some reason the outcome is totally wrong then maybe we can involve the Federal Govt. and move this up the line. Instead it appears that he used his influence and pressured Southwest into something.

I would really like to ask SWA how many people they have fired for similiar complaints.

SWA caved under pressure, pure and simple.

 

[stockinluv]

As usual there is more to than that. the individual involved was drunk and used a more vulgar word than what was posted. Also did not try to make things right, as was a member of the Southwest Airlines management. Don't believe everything you read

 

[shad boy]

stock,

If this is true, then why will the senator not talk on record? If there is justification I don't see a problem with firing him.

Since the southwest employee who made the complaint involded an elected public figure than it should be public domain. The other party gave his side. That is all I am asking for is to here both sides.

Also skyteams second hand info is no better or worse than the reporters if we are not to believe everything we read.

 

[Whadayano]

Southwest has always had a reputation for treating employees fairly. I find it hard to believe they would have nailed the guy if the facts were as stated in the article. And never forget controversy sells newspapers--so I would trust Southwest more than some media rag, until I learned more. If it was AMR, maybe not...but Southwest has earned the benefit of the doubt, at least initially.

 

[shad boy]

Whadayano,

THAT is MY POINT.

There shouldn't have to be a benefit of a doubt.

The story is out there, if you are right defend yourself.

Tell us Sen. why you made numerous calls to SWA execs?

Southwest, Mr. Boggs is more than happy to talk about it in the media. Call him and ask if you can air your side of the story. Don't say we cannot talk about it due to policy. You already have talked about it. If Sen. West had only made 1 phone call then you have nothing to worry about. If he made repeated calls and you still accepted them then I want to know what my elected official is doing getting involved in a personnel matter. Was he using undue influence? Seems to me we have had many a trial in the last 100 years when a politician tried to use his influence unduly.

 

[AAmech]

As usual there is more to than that. the individual involved was drunk and used a more vulgar word than what was posted. Also did not try to make things right, as was a member of the Southwest Airlines management. Don't believe everything you read

Undoubtably there is more to the story. But how much of a difference could it make? Maybe if he was ranting and raving about "f-ing N-words" and waving nooses in people faces you could see firing him. But its very doubtful it went down like that because SW management would have had no problem explaining their side of the story. Their squirming and dancing around is making this look like PC gone mad!!!

 

[AAmech]

Southwest has always had a reputation for treating employees fairly. I find it hard to believe they would have nailed the guy if the facts were as stated in the article. And never forget controversy sells newspapers--so I would trust Southwest more than some media rag, until I learned more. If it was AMR, maybe not...but Southwest has earned the benefit of the doubt, at least initially.

What scares me is that this is what management is thinking. "We're SWA, we're teflon coated and can do whatever we please"!