London, June 12 : A British Airways pilot has alleged that his colleagues victimized him after he exposed the 'canteen culture of racism' against Asians at the airline.
Scotish pilot Douglas Maughan, 54, told an employment tribunal that he was subjected to racist abuse by colleagues, including being told that "jocks" should "f*** off to the welfare state paid for by the English".
Other pilots had ranted about black people and Asians and a senior pilot had made a racist comment about the OJ Simpson trial in a formal presentation, the tribunal heard.
Maughan, whose wife is Asian, took offence to the comments and the "institutional racism". He complained to BA bosses, including chief executive Willie Walsh, but nothing was done to stop it, he said.
In April 2009, he decided to speak out about racism among the airline's pilots in a newspaper article, The Scotsman reports.
After it was published, he received abusive calls and messages from colleagues, to such an extent that managers stepped in to warn pilots they would be disciplined if the abuse continued, the tribunal in Watford heard on Thursday.
A few weeks later a pilot trainer, Captain Adrian South, deliberately marked him down in a regular flying assessment out of retaliation for the article, he claimed, adding that the assessor's report had not been "fair and reasonable",
"I would expect everyone to behave professionally, whatever their differences of opinion outside the cockpit," he said.
The pilot, with 29 years' flying experience, said he had complained to bosses about racism at the airline in a string of incidents dating back to 1995, but he was not taken seriously.
Now, he is suing the airline claiming victimization on racial grounds. Three related claims were struck out at an earlier hearing.
BA has denied discriminating against the pilot, and the hearing continues.
--- ANI