News: BA asks staff to work for free
Flights > News > # 2189 (17/06/2009)
British Airways has asked its 40,000 staff to work without pay for up to a month.
BA chief executive Willie Walsh’s call for staff to work free for between one and four weeks follows his announcement that he would not draw a salary in July. That move will save the airline £62,000, based on Mr Walsh’s basic annual salary of £743,000.
Walsh said: "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."
However, staff and unions pointed out that it is much easier for Walsh to take a pay holiday when his £743,000 basic salary is many times higher than most of BA’s employees.
A spokesman for the Unite trade union, said: "Willie Walsh can afford to work for a month for free, but our members can't."
Mick Rix, national officer for aviation at the GMB union, added: “Until the BA executives accept permanent change to their remuneration and bonus awards then I would find it increasingly difficult to assume that most staff would take this request seriously.”
Last month BA launched a cost-saving initiative encouraging staff to voluntarily shift to a part-time position or take unpaid leave of between a month and a year.
BA made a £401 million loss in 2008, its biggest in 25 years, amid surging fuel costs and drastic fall in business passenger numbers.
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