Unite less chirpy after tweet complaints
Unite’s joint general secretary, Derek Simpson, has found himself to be the latest high profile casualty of Twitter with some loose tweets sent at the weekend being blamed for the breakdown in communications between the trade union and BA.
Nonchalantly tweeting via his Blackberry from the meeting, in the presence of BA head Willie Walsh, Simpson aka @dereksimpsonjgs, supplied his 1,500 followers with a running commentary on progress and alerting a mob of left wing protestors to the talk’s status including: “When employees on both sides of the dispute hide their faces when interviewing ... Then something is badly wrong down at BA.”
Later the discussions took a turn for the worse when Simpson’s Twitter feed stated: “Intruders from left political group has infiltrated ACAS building and disrupted talks ..... Police called ... Much noise and stamping.”
Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show after escaping the melee a nonplussed Walsh said he was “shocked and angry” at the behaviour, blaming it for the talks breakdown.
Writing on his twitter feed however an unrepentant Simpson said: “No wonder Willy is upset by tweets. It seems when the issue gets out other than by his media some light is shed on the real issues.”
Not ruling out the possibility of an agenda at play in the rogue tweets Twitter expert Mark Shaw points out that Simpson isn't the first high profile figure to put foot in mouth but urges "don't blame the tools, a lack of education and training is to blame.
"I'm not saying individuals shouldn't be using Twitter but policies should be in place to give employees a clear mandate and guidance on what information they should and shouldn't be providing.