British Airways asks employees to work without pay

[gunslingingbird]

LONDON (AP) -- British Airways on Tuesday urged its staff to work for nothing in an effort to save the company money.

British Airways PLC is struggling to come up with ways to save cash after reporting its biggest full-year loss since the former national airline was privatized in 1987.

BA chief Willie Walsh has said he would not draw a salary for the month of July, and urged other employees to work for blocks of time without being paid.

Are they fucking serious?!? Do they really expect people to just volunteer their time so the company's numbers look better? What do they think the point of having a job is in the first place? Sure, the CEO can go a whole month without pay, but does he really think that someone working at the ticket window, living paycheck to paycheck, is really gonna be happy working for free when his rent's due in 2 weeks? This just shows how disconnected upper management is from reality.

Story

 

[rawlwear]

Ya its not like people need money and have bills to pay, wtf is this shit, drop ticket prices, cut back what you pay ceo's and try to sell more tickets.

I guess its just easier to ask , Can you work for free?

 

[Skyraider22]

I read about that eariler I could not see my self doing that but you never know:dunno:

 

[biomech]

It will easy for the CEO to do, he has enough in the bank.
Instead of fucking the little guy over and trying to get them to work for free, why not better manage your company.
Its unbelievable the balls these management types have.

 

[sproing99]

A number of companies have asked their staff to take a pay cut to enable the company to continue trading. British Airways have been badly hit by the recession and by rises in fuel prices. If the alternative to voluntarily taking an up to 8% pay cut (the money will be recouped over a period of up to 6 months, unpaid leave is an alternative, staff are being asked to give up between one week and one month) is redundancy and/or the company going out of business then you might view that as a small price to pay.

BA's staff costs are very high. Their cabin crew's basic wage is twice that of Virgin, their pilots are among the best paid and have the most out-of date contracts in the business (due to the fact that it's an old compant which hasn't gone out of business to Spanish Practices are in place).

If you look at what Continental did to their pilots a few years ago (cut their salary by 50%, you can't leave because you lose seniority) or the fact that in the feeder airlines pilots can be paid as little as $20,000 - BA's actions aren't that extreme.

 

[marquis2]

Well , I get paid without going to work

 

[free4440273]

It's a nice idea...I can see it catching on...all we need are Free Flights

 

[Wainkerr99]

350 000 public servants are to be retrenched in the U.K. now. I guess a month or so without pay is better than nought. One thing leads to another, so if anything it may show how the British spirit works, as it did in the WW2 days.

And now, in our next cheerful bit of news:

 

[tartanterrier]

BA must be on drugs to even think of it.I can only assume that those
who do stay will get paid eventually.But there's got to be a gang fuck
somewhere

 

[T85]

i totally agree with gunslingingbird comments. Why does a CEO get paid millions a year and then ask his staff to take pay cuts or in this case work for free (WHAT THE!)... If you want to save a company money get the upper management/board members to take a pay cut because they should be able to afford it!!! and if they can't they don't deserve to be paid so much!!! talk about disconnected indeed!

 

[free4440273]

Wonder what shareholders will think: Work for free and 'Buy'. Refuse?? Sell and Hold LOL. I can just see the press release .

 

[EwaSonnetIsGod]

I dont believe he is asking them to work for free. It seems he would like them to work for say 36 hours with pay and work an extra 10 without pay each week. Its not that big of a deal to put in a few extra hour to save your job. i work for salary already which only pays me for 45 hours but I always work at least 55 hours and many weeks at 70+. I think you have to do whatever it takes these days to keep the job you have and the company you work for alive.

 

[Hot Mega]

I think cash strapped employers ought arrange ways to take up some of the household expenses of their employees for a time in lieu of fully pay....instead of asking them to work for free.

 

[BlueBalls]

I bet some idiots actually did it.

More fool them I suppose.

 

[sproing99]

Yes, what fools to take selfless action to preserve the jobs of them and their colleagues.

 

[free4440273]

Hold on a second....Deja vu.....Ford/GM/Chrysler:yahoo:

 

[Boobinator]

I read about this as well, and I don't think it's a that weird idea. From what I understand it's either working a few months without pay (which you most likely get back if better times come) or losing your job and risk being without one for a very long time. What's best: working without salary for a temporary period or not finding any job at all for several years?

But yeah, I'd probably find that hard to do myself even with the above mentioned in mind. Mostly because it's the company's own fault for not saving money during the good years, and because there's no guarantee whatsoever that the company you work for would give a rat's ass once they don't need you.

So even from a very solidarily viewpoint it's hard to argue why workers should feel obliged to save a company who would never help them if they were the ones in economic crisis. It's actually more logic for an egoist to want to work voluntarily since it might mean saving his own skin through the company

 

[D-rock]

They better be careful or they will give other corporations ideas.

 

[Facial_King]

This is why unions can be (emphasis on can) useful.

Yes, this is one major WTF??

I think the employees should counter-suggest that the CEO go without pay for a full year or so. Live off of his savings, investments, etc. He might have to limit himself to 8 vacations and only 10 "business" trips (complete with swank dining and hookers, etc.).

Boo-fucking-hoo!!!

What a pitiful state of affairs.

 

[sproing99]

CEO foregoing a whole year of pay ? £750k saved
Staff foregoing 1 month ? £150 million saved

You do the maths