British Airways Asks Its 40,000 Employees To WORK FOR FREE!!!

Struggling BA asks 40,000 staff to work for nothing in desperate fight for survival

By Ray Massey, Transport Editor Last updated at 1:24 PM on 16th June 2009

The astonishing plea comes as BA faces what Mr Walsh says is a 'fight for survival'. The company has written directly to its 40,000 employees asking them to volunteer for up to four weeks of unpaid work.

Mr Walsh announced last week that he would work unpaid for the month of July - forgoing £61,000 in salary. His chief financial officer Keith Williams is also working unpaid for the month.

(snip)

www.dailymail.co.uk...

They can't be serious. This must be a PR stunt to convince the govt that they need a bailout.

Locally, here in the Atlanta, Georgia area, there have been a fair number of stories of smaller companies doing things like this as well. The funny thing is the most successful local business here is owned by a man who went the opposite way, cut his own pay down, started paying his people better and offering great benefits. His small business is thriving. I wonder if any corporate CEO will catch onto this logic instead of simply expecting his labor force to keep him in his mansion and Bentley?

Hell If i made 60.000 a month I could work for free too..

People have lost the fact that not everyone is rich..

It's not that unusual.

In almost every industry, Payroll is the greatest operating expense.

In tough economic times, when a business is facing the looming threat of bankruptcy, it is faced with decreasing it's operating expenses to attempt to bring things back from the red into the black. The first thing to get addressed is Payroll.

Usually, businesses will lay-off employees, removing middle management, streamlining departments, getting rid of redundant positions. If that is not enough, then they start mass lay-offs.

This just seems to be a desperate but creative attempt to do the same without laying anyone off.

If my employer told me that I had the option of being permanently laid-off during an economic depression where it may be nigh impossible to find another job, or that I could help by continuing to keep my job by taking a Pay Cut (or working for free for a set time period), I would be pretty grateful and would take the later.

Of course, not everyone has the Savings to afford working gratis for a month. Many people live week to week from paycheck to paycheck and simply would not be able to take this option.

However, Pay Cut vs Lay Off, especially during these tough economic times is a no-brainer no matter who you are. If it were 1999 again, it would be a different story. If better jobs are everywhere to be had, then the employee has a third viable option to take up roost in greener pastures. However, this is 2009 with unemployment everywhere and very few employment opportunities opening up. Sometimes, you take what you can get and you don't throw a fit (as we tell our children).

It's alright for the ball bag's on sixty grand. But what about plain old joe shmo ?

How is he supposed to survive a month without wage's ?

Take care.

Regards
Lee

reply to post by fraterormus


I work for the state of Florida, and unpaid furloughs were a major consideration up until a couple of weeks ago. We weren't going to work, but we were going to be taking unpaid leave every month!

Eventually they decided on a 2% paycut across the board, but then Governor Crist vetoed that. No telling what is coming down the pipe next.

Yes, someone making 60,000 per month can afford a month off, but someone making 2,000 per month probably can't!!

Why don't these big businesses try running a profitable business plan from the start? Maybe fuel consumption, layoff middle management, stop overbooking and paying for hotels and flights on their competitors. Less partnering with other poor businesses like resorts and media outlets. Maybe just run your dam airline on a budget like everyone else!

reply to post by Redpillblues


6 K a month is rich.

60K a month is "filthy rich".

my 0.2 cent (inflation and recession calculated)

Well, if suddenly British airways will earn like crazy, would it offer its employees to take up to four weeks of paid vacation? If so - this is almost fair. However i am pretty sure that if there is no law forcing them to - they would never do it.
And for the guy who earns 60000 , to serve as an example, this is rediculous.
People take loans, plan their future and ctr.
Of course, having a job is better then not having one, but having a job and not being paid? 4 weeks is a month. It is automatic 8 percent drop in wages. And service that public would recieve from people who are working for free will surely bring British airways more clients (warning , sarcasm) ...
So the next step, what, 8 weeks for free?

This is good. Fewer airlines = higher ticket prices = the peasants' mobility is restricted = good for the environment.

The same goes for high fuel prices.

Oh, gosh. Work for free to save your job. lol. I worked for a company that was going under. I was laid off one day. And the CEO asked me to come in and work that Saturday, anyway, knowing I was no longer employed, to help him complete some accounting tasks. Heh. I said. Sure. I'll be in at 7 AM. Nope, I didn't show up. lol. My daughter worked for a sister company that was also going under. She wasn't laid off at the same time, however, she worked for two more weeks, didn't get paid for the previous two week period, either. And then was laid off, after giving them 4 weeks of free work. I warned her that she would not get paid. I said, dear, I work in accounting, I KNOW they have no money, don't go to work. You won't get paid. But she fell for their smooth talk and eventually said, um, papa, I should have listened to you.

If I want to do charity work, I will do charity work for people who really need help. Not for a company that runs itself into the ground following bad business practices.

This corporation we worked for even expensed beer and cigarettes for some employees.WTF? Company cars for wives, along with unlimited use of credit cards for their personal expenses. Sheesh. And, until the end, this was all paid for by the taxpayer. The corporation did work for a superfund that was set up to remove leaking and old fuel tanks, Gosh, there were thousand and thousands of these old tanks sitting on unused property that used to be gas stations. The superfund was to pay for the removal. People signed contracts to have these tanks removed for "free", at government expense. However, most of these people ended up OWING the government for the work done, because the corp. failed to do the job within the guide lines and failed to properly fill out paperwork.

I worked for a place that got superfunded. Hazardous waste and the company went down down down. Towards the end, I happened to come in one day and heard the owner arguing with somebody. We all knew it was bad so I had been picking my check up early from the payroll clerk. Anyway, on the way in my boss said "Did you already get your check?" and I said "Of course". He told me to get my ass to the bank and cash it. Lol, I drove 30 miles to the bank the check was written gainst right then and was probably the only one who did this to cash my check. I remember the girl at the bank looking at the check and then me "I'll be right back" she said and came back with somebody. They talked for a bit and then sent the money out. I didn't dare to DEPOSIT it because it would have bounced really high. But, got cash and ran. Next week where I worked was in the news for not paying it's employees. People were mad but they were also worried. I bet they would have worked at least a month in the hopes of getting paid.

Most of you have missed the point here- By the CEO asking everyone to work for free-Knowing they cannot do it. He's in part passing the blame onto the workers for the Companies Failure.

When later he has to now cut jobs -he's going to be reminding them that because they never worked for free he has to now lay off workers.

When instead of them cutting routes, (which would of course cut jobs).

Why is it that companies don't grow to a sustainable size and then maintain. GREED and the Stock exchange. The very thing that caused our crash and problems here.

Good luck to them.

Originally posted by Hefficide
Locally, here in the Atlanta, Georgia area, there have been a fair number of stories of smaller companies doing things like this as well. The funny thing is the most successful local business here is owned by a man who went the opposite way, cut his own pay down, started paying his people better and offering great benefits. His small business is thriving. I wonder if any corporate CEO will catch onto this logic instead of simply expecting his labor force to keep him in his mansion and Bentley?

I'm from Atlanta, too. Who is that you are talking about? I seem to have missed that news item.

reply to post by mjfromga


The small businessman who started paying people more is the owner of a Little Caesers Pizza. I don't remember exactly what city it was in but I think Morrow or nearby. I'll try to find the story and reference a link a bit later.

reply to post by Hefficide


Well...whoever it is, I'm impressed!

Originally posted by getreadyalready


I work for the state of Florida, and unpaid furloughs were a major consideration up until a couple of weeks ago. We weren't going to work, but we were going to be taking unpaid leave every month!

Well hell - that's ok. Companies have always had reduction in hours when a recession hit. But asking people to work a month without pay is sumping else.

reply to post by mjfromga


I can't find any links to it. It was about 2-3 months ago and was covered on 11Alive news during their nightly public interest story.

Originally posted by eldard
This is good. Fewer airlines = higher ticket prices = the peasants' mobility is restricted = good for the environment.

The same goes for high fuel prices.

Yup - high fuel prices are actually a good thing. Deaths on the highways dropped about 4,000 in 2008 compared to 2007. All because the idiot american was driving slower and less.

Originally posted by Hefficide
The small businessman who started paying people more is the owner of a Little Caesers Pizza. I don't remember exactly what city it was in but I think Morrow or nearby. I'll try to find the story and reference a link a bit later.

Excuse me whilst I chuckle. "Chuck.....le....". My wife works for one. Their business is considerably up. Seems poor people like cheap pizza (specialy fur de kiddies) and the number of poor people is growing. Soon we'll see "Little Ceasars" racing boats ripping across the open sea again.