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London - British Airways Asks Its 40,000 Staff To Work For Free |
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The group, which made a record £401 million loss in 2008 amid surging fuel prices and a collapse in premium-fare passengers, is seeking to reduce costs dramatically and has already offered staff unpaid leave or a reduction in hours.
Willie Walsh, BA’s chief executive, has now gone a step further by asking staff to volunteer for between one and four weeks of unpaid work in what he says is a “fight for survival.”
Mr Walsh, who said last week that he would work for free in July, has set a deadline of June 24 for employees to volunteer for unpaid work. He said that the salary deductions would be spread over three to six months wherever possible.
BA denied that those staff who volunteered for unpaid work would be given preference if the airline imposes a further round of redundancies.
The airline is currently negotiating pay deals and job reductions with its ground handling staff, pilots and cabin crew, who have been told that the airline needs to settle discussions by the end of the month. In total, BA is thought to be seeking as many as 4,000 job cuts, including 2,000 voluntary redundancies among the 14,000 cabin crew.
Last week it emerged that BA pays its cabin crew and pilots up to twice as much as rival airlines. The average salary for BA’s 14,000 cabin crew, including bonuses and allowances, is £29,900, compared with £14,400 at Virgin Atlantic and £20,200 at easyJet. BA’s pilots earn an average of £107,600, compared with £89,500 at Virgin and £71,400 at easyJet.
The request for volunteers to work for free was made in the company’s BA news magazine. In an article headlined Action Time, Mr Walsh wrote: “I am looking for every single part of the company to take part in some way. It really counts. We face a fight for survival. These are the toughest trading conditions we have ever seen and there simply are no green shoots.
“Our survival depends on everyone contributing to changes that permanently remove costs from every part of the business,” he added.
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Read Comments (16) — Post Yours »
1
Jun 16, 2009 at 03:32 PM Anonymous Says:
Baloney!!! Fule costs were mot soaring for the last year, and only now they are going up. So lets put the blame where it belongs-on the lossof premium air apssengers. That is, buisness and first class [asengers. Thanks to many of Obama's policies (remember the "Las vegas" speech and the regulation of executive pay), no one goes buisness anymore.
2
Jun 16, 2009 at 04:00 PM Anonymous Says:
sweet dreams in 2009 no goyish person would volanteer for anything
3
Jun 16, 2009 at 04:46 PM hilarious Says:
My boss says the same thing "what do you need money for".
4
Jun 16, 2009 at 04:32 PM Anonymous Says:
“ sweet dreams in 2009 no goyish person would volanteer for anything ”
Why is it sweet dreams for a goy to volunteer? Maybe people would say the same thing about Jews? Many people will probably take it in order to avoid losing their jobs totally. I would rather not be paid for a month then not have a job!
5
Jun 16, 2009 at 04:54 PM bar yochui Says:
“ Baloney!!! Fule costs were mot soaring for the last year, and only now they are going up. So lets put the blame where it belongs-on the lossof premium air apssengers. That is, buisness and first class [asengers. Thanks to many of Obama's policies (remember the "Las vegas" speech and the regulation of executive pay), no one goes buisness anymore. ”
for you information, airlines buy fuel one year in advance so by the end of this year every major airline will have big losses
6
Jun 16, 2009 at 04:58 PM lipa Says:
“ sweet dreams in 2009 no goyish person would volanteer for anything ”
What Americans are none for generously giving charity and good Deeds take you head out and stop thinking like a boro parkir !!!!
7
Jun 16, 2009 at 06:14 PM coach flier Says:
Economy fliers take note. BA spent yeas cultivaing a policy of pursuing only front of the plane passengers, all economy passengers were made to feel unimportant. Most front of the plane passengers do so onl when they can get their job to pay. The slowdown caused a great drop in front of the plane travel and now BA is getting what they deserve for spitting in the face of normal people.
8
Jun 16, 2009 at 05:16 PM Anonymous Says:
Are the executives also working without pay, or are they only expecting their employees to?
9
Jun 16, 2009 at 08:21 PM Milhouse Says:
“ Are the executives also working without pay, or are they only expecting their employees to? ”
Try reading the article before commenting. You'd be amazed how often that helps.
10
Jun 16, 2009 at 08:20 PM Anonymous Says:
El Al gets huge subsidies from the government so their employees don't have to worry and can continue to abuse thier passengers without fear of any market consequences.
11
Jun 16, 2009 at 08:10 PM Aron Says:
And I'm going to ask British Airways to volunteer that I can fly for free.
12
Jun 16, 2009 at 09:54 PM Milhouse Says:
“ El Al gets huge subsidies from the government so their employees don't have to worry and can continue to abuse thier passengers without fear of any market consequences. ”
Other than for its security expenses, which it's only right and proper for the government to help with, what other subsidies does El Al get?
13
Jun 17, 2009 at 02:57 AM Eddie Says:
BA only have themselves to blame. there are no ba flights out of the UK except from LHR & LGW. to get to these airports from all over the UK one has to fly there. so if one is already flying for a connection they take KLM to AMS or Laufthansa to FRA where the connections are far better and business class tickets are far cheaper on these airlines then ba. If one is going to the far east Emirates and Singapore airlines are far cheaper and they always have the Kosher meal.
Ba also don't take their shuttle flights seriously and are always delayed in and out of LHR while KLM and LH are far more reliable. and BA can't even fill these shuttle flights whilst KLM an LH are always packed.
So as a brit from outside London if BA went bust I would not even notice!!
14
Jun 17, 2009 at 02:24 PM Milhouse Says:
“ BA only have themselves to blame. there are no ba flights out of the UK except from LHR & LGW. to get to these airports from all over the UK one has to fly there. so if one is already flying for a connection they take KLM to AMS or Laufthansa to FRA where the connections are far better and business class tickets are far cheaper on these airlines then ba. If one is going to the far east Emirates and Singapore airlines are far cheaper and they always have the Kosher meal.
Ba also don't take their shuttle flights seriously and are always delayed in and out of LHR while KLM and LH are far more reliable. and BA can't even fill these shuttle flights whilst KLM an LH are always packed.
So as a brit from outside London if BA went bust I would not even notice!! ”
Good point. Other airlines serve the UK far better than BA does;
15
Jun 17, 2009 at 02:01 PM Bad Joke ! Says:
Reality can be very harsh. I suggest BA go into chapter 11. Goodbye. I refuse to fly BA due to the British Government's arms embargo against Israel, and more recently, its fatwa and jihad against Michael Savage. Why would any self respecting American fly and support such a disgusting government.
16
Jun 17, 2009 at 04:01 PM Milhouse Says:
“ Reality can be very harsh. I suggest BA go into chapter 11. Goodbye. I refuse to fly BA due to the British Government's arms embargo against Israel, and more recently, its fatwa and jihad against Michael Savage. Why would any self respecting American fly and support such a disgusting government. ”
What has BA got to do with the government? And how can a UK company "go into" a chapter of a USA law?