Storm in a tea cup.

Pathetic. A senior female with no sense of humour should not be in a position of authority where humour is used to lighten sometimes arduous circumstances. Now they have a shortage of volunteers. I do hope she is happy.
 
oldharry said:
"we cannot allow bullying, harassment, or discrimination...". There's got to be more to this than just two not very saucy mugs.
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Very likely you're correct, with it being the Daily Mail carrying the story. Loads of righteous indignation in the comments by readers, which is probably what the authors were hoping for....
 
It's in lots of papers. A quote from the petition page:

As you maybe aware we are waking up to the media who have reported the story. I didn't add specific details about what had gone on but since it's in the papers now you can all see that this really is a trivial matter despite what the rnli press release says.
These lads are our local heroes and need to be supported and praised not punished.
 
Cheery said:
Pathetic. A senior female with no sense of humour should not be in a position of authority where humour is used to lighten sometimes arduous circumstances. Now they have a shortage of volunteers. I do hope she is happy.
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The text of the article includes this: -

'The lifeboat station should be an environment where people can expect to be treated with dignity and respect.'We cannot allow bullying, harassment or discrimination in what should be a safe and inclusive environment and there will be serious consequences for anybody who demonstrates this behaviour within the RNLI.
'Our dedicated volunteers represent the values and principles of our organisation and we will not allow any behaviour that brings the work of the RNLI and our people into disrepute.' ....
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It suggests that there is more to this. However, maybe not, maybe it is just an over reaction based on one woman's complaint. There is no doubt to me that the last few years has seen a significant increase in righteousness when it comes to standards of behaviour. What was once considered tolerant, is no longer tolerated and in a lot of cases it is men that are struggling to recognise this.
 
The phrase “Lions led by donkeys” comes to mind.

I wonder if the RNLI senior manager involved would get out of her bed at 3.00am and sail out into a force 10 gale with the very real possibility that she might never come back, I suspect not.
 
We need a parallel universe, the parliament elected are Chubby Brown, Kevin B Wilson, Jim Davidson, Jethro. The philosophy of the late Dave Allen. We then could send all the PC snowflakes for re-programming.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
The text of the article includes this: -



It suggests that there is more to this. However, maybe not, maybe it is just an over reaction based on one woman's complaint. There is no doubt to me that the last few years has seen a significant increase in righteousness when it comes to standards of behaviour. What was once considered tolerant, is no longer tolerated and in a lot of cases it is men that are struggling to recognise this.
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If I was on a sinking boat in a storm, I would rather a rough pair of hands who gets the job done coming out to me than a prissy snowflake who writes out a risk assessment. So would me wife.
 
This appears to be a gross overreaction to a minor bit of tasteless but harmless bloke-ism.
I have used the RNLI's online complaint facility, and will cancel my S. O. if these volunteers are not rapidly reinstated with suitable apologies.
 
I might consider reinstating the RNLI in my will if they sack the PC idiot and issue press releases to demonstrate they are committed to saving lives at sea above being PC.
 
Tomahawk said:
If I was on a sinking boat in a storm, I would rather a rough pair of hands who gets the job done coming out to me than a prissy snowflake who writes out a risk assessment. So would me wife.
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This is a local issue about standards of behaviour. From what I can tell the vast majority of the RNLI works to a standard in all aspects of their work that is acceptable, so you can probably be assured that your rescue is not only being carried out by well trained volunteers but also by people who conduct themselves civilly in public and in front of their colleagues. Maybe this lot are just dickheads and they have been found out, maybe not, maybe the complainant is a nut job, maybe not. It is not something that I would right off the whole of the RNLI over.
 
An RNLI spokesman told the BBC: 'We are aware of speculation about the issue on social media but we want to stress that this was not a trivial matter.'
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The article makes it clear that the sacking was about more than a couple of mugs. From what was linked, they were initially asked to remove the mugs. Is such a request so unreasonable in 2018? Regardless of your politics, presumably you don't want your RNLI subs being spent on employment lawyers, and a hostile working environment for women is an employment law case waiting to happen.

I never cease to be worried by how people on both sides of the political spectrum can engage their outrage without being in possession of the full facts. The actual reason for the dismissal does not seem to appear in the article here.
 
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I would need to know more details about the disciplinary interview with the two lifeboatmen but this is interesting:

"But the men, who are not paid for their work with the RNLI, then had to go through a disciplinary hearing that looked through their private Whatsapp messages."

I recently represented two Guys where the Company did something almost identical.

That little stunt indirectly cost the Company many 10s of £1000s. :ambivalence:

Richard
 
How do you expect people who put to sea when all others are running for safety to behave?

It takes a particular type of mentality to put yourself in danger like that. The type of mentality that takes risks is not one that behaves according to sentiments of manners and etiquette. Yes you can get polite well mannered people to go out. But as I said above, I would prefer a rough pair of hands than someone who is primarily worried about not offending.
 
oldharry said:
"we cannot allow bullying, harassment, or discrimination...". There's got to be more to this than just two not very saucy mugs.
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I agree. The Sun article, on which the Mail seems to have based theirs, includes “The investigation focused on the production of inappropriate material of a sexual nature and social media activity directed at an RNLI staff member. This was not a trivial matter.” I note that neither newspaper shows the actual mugs in question, just mock-ups.

The Mail is clearly trying to whip up a bit of sexist hysteria by stressing that the senior staff member who dealt with the matter is a woman.
 
Tomahawk said:
How do you expect people who put to sea when all others are running for safety to behave?

It takes a particular type of mentality to put yourself in danger like that. The type of mentality that takes risks is not one that behaves according to sentiments of manners and etiquette. Yes you can get polite well mannered people to go out. But as I said above, I would prefer a rough pair of hands than someone who is primarily worried about not offending.
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Should the RNLI tolerate overt racism amongst its crew members?
 
JumbleDuck said:
I agree. The Sun article, on which the Mail seems to have based theirs, includes “The investigation focused on the production of inappropriate material of a sexual nature and social media activity directed at an RNLI staff member. This was not a trivial matter.” I note that neither newspaper shows the actual mugs in question, just mock-ups.

The Mail is clearly trying to whip up a bit of sexist hysteria by stressing that the senior staff member who dealt with the matter is a woman.
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Rather similar to the recent affair in the Channel Islands in that a fairly trivial incident like towing someone into harbour or having a joke mug became serious after comments on social media or email. I know nothing about this case but I would speculate that maybe the "social media activity directed at an RNLI staff member" could have been reaction against the senior manager who made the mug an issue in the first place?
 
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