Richard Branson's bra wars as female Virgin staff refuse to wear 'skimpy' new uniform
RICHARD Branson has had to fork out to buy new underwear for his female staff following their complaints of the Virgin uniform being slightly see-through.
The 62-year-old businessman is providing the ladies with a £20 voucher to ensure that they can purchase a new bra that won't show through their red blouse.
Due to the complaints, the introduction of the new uniform on Virgin Trains has been delayed by three weeks.
"It's important that our people feel comfortable and so we will be issuing vouchers in the next few days for ladies to buy undergarments to wear under their blouses," said business support director Andy Cross said on Virgin's staff website.
Female employees concerned about the new blouse will be offered a £20 voucher to buy suitable undergarments. We always envisaged that we would need to review the situation once people started wearing their new uniform and accept this as an important part
"Female employees concerned about the new blouse will be offered a £20 voucher to buy suitable undergarments. We always envisaged that we would need to review the situation once people started wearing their new uniform and accept this as an important part of the uniform trial."
However, staff said they're not impressed with being given just one voucher and don't want the new uniform.
"We want them withdrawn - £20 is hardly enough for a decent bra," one said.
Rail union TSSA has rejected the voucher offer as "too little, too late" and says its members should not need to buy new bras in order to wear the skimpy uniform.
"Our female members want to be judged with dignity on their professionalism in the workplace," said Manuel Cortes, TSSA general secretary.