Virgin Blue 'cattle yard' for young blonde women, hearing told

BRISBANE - Virgin Blue job interviews are little more than a "cattle yard" for young blond women, a flight attendant alleging discrimination against the airline says.
Gold Coast woman Theresa Stewart, 52, told the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal in Brisbane yesterday she was refused a job at the airline in late 2001, despite her 27 years' experience, because she didn't have the "Virgin flair".

Stewart is one of eight former Ansett workers who claim they were refused jobs at Virgin Blue, following the collapse of Ansett, because of their age and looks.

The women age in range from 36 to 56 and are all expected to give evidence over the five-day hearing.

Stewart said she went to a Virgin Blue "assessment centre" as part of her job application and was not asked about her experience but rather made to perform role plays and make up a "ditty" with other group members.

She was sure that it was young, attractive staff they were after.

"It was a cattle yard; a one-hour holding area," Stewart said. "The assessment was designed to view a large number of people in a short space of time to see how they look.

"They were after a certain look that appeals to Richard Branson.

"If you had two beautiful blonde girls, 25 and gorgeous, then they went to them like homing pigeons."

Stewart rejected a suggestion by Virgin Blue barrister Chris Murdoch that she wasn't selected for the job because her unease with the role playing was obvious.

"No," she responded. "I'm a bright, sensible and kind human being and I'm adaptable to a lot of situations."

The women's barrister, Simon Hamlyn-Harris, referred to a FHM magazine front cover with Virgin staff posing seductively under the headline: "Brace yourself for travel turbulence: real life cabin crew without uniforms" as evidence of the look that Virgin Blue was courting.

The hearing continues.

- AAP