United Airlines CEO Oscar Muñoz Follows Restorative Justice
Script
April 13, 2017
Just as I’ve been writing and
reflecting on the process of victim-offender reconciliation as described and
experienced in mediation, I heard a major corporate CEO follow the script
mediators aspire to have offenders follow.
It is the incident of a paid and booked Vietnamese-American being
wrestled out of his seat and off the plane to make way for an airline crew.
What crucial stages does the offender
go through? First, s/he apologizes
directly to the victims and their families.
Then, having heard and acknowledged the harm done, s/he makes
amends. Yesterday in media interviews, in
an NPR interview, I heard United Airlines Oscar Muñoz literally do that, first saying,
“I’m ashamed,” then apologizing to the victim and his family in particular and
customers generally, and offered cash “amends” to those affected, promising
that no such incident would ever happen again (http://www.wbur.org/npr/523668043/united-scrambles-to-recover-from-ousted-passenger-fiasco). Somewhere, somehow, Mr. Muñoz
has learned the textbook elements of mediation.
It’s worth noting that a private-sector for-profit corporate chief
executive believes that accepting responsibility and making amends for harms
one does, pays. Love and peace, hal
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