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.

 

"I am looking for every single part of the company to take part in some way in this cash-effective way of helping the company's survival plan. It really counts," Walsh said in a company publication.

 

BA said the option meant employees would effectively volunteer to take a cut in base pay, with the lost income spread out over several months. The company had said last month it would ask employees to consider working without pay.

 

The UNITE union, which represents thousands of BA ground and cabin crew, gave the proposal a chilly reception. The union said that while Walsh might be able to afford working a month for free, its members could not.

 

BA said last month that it had lost 375 million pounds ($595 million) in the year ending March 31, compared with a profit of 712 million pounds in the previous year. That is its worst result in more than two decades of business, the previous low point being a 200 million pounds loss in 2001-2002.

 

Work without pay for a month? Why go to work that month at all? If they are withholding pay, you should be able to withhold work.

Rather ridiculous really, they are a pretty dire company and baffling that they expect workers to feel 'privelleged' working for them.

Someone on £750,000 a year asking people on 30 times less to work free for a month, complete joke.

Britain is moving towards communism at an alarming rate, if people are idiotic enough to stand for this and work a month for free then

they will be working the next month and the month after for free, don't give the British government an inch because they plan to take a yard to be honest.

Work without pay for a month? Why go to work that month at all? If they are withholding pay, you should be able to withhold work.

Rather ridiculous really, they are a pretty dire company and baffling that they expect workers to feel 'privelleged' working for them.

Someone on £750,000 a year asking people on 30 times less to work free for a month, complete joke.

Britain is moving towards communism at an alarming rate, if people are idiotic enough to stand for this and work a month for free then

they will be working the next month and the month after for free, don't give the British government an inch because they plan to take a yard to be honest.

 

Communism???? are you kidding me....? This suggestion has to be one of the WORST examples of bloody arch-CAPITALISM, bordering on SLAVE LABOUR I've ever heard in my life..... It's an actual dream come true to the fat-cat bosses - get people to work, and DONT PAY THEM...... This has very little to do with farming collectives, BA are a bloody PRIVATE company, not a soviet or a hippie commune..... :rolleyes:

 

Obviously this is utterly out of order.... Yeah, work for sod all for a month, and then, obviously that must mean that you've okayed it with your landlord or your mortgage provider that you aint gonna pay the rent/mortgage for that month, and you've okayed it with Morrisons or Tesco to give you free food for a month too...... <_< Willie Walsh is an absolute fukkin' TOSSER........ Someone send for Bob Crow to sort this EEDJIT out..... :rolleyes:

 

I totally agree, if they aint gonna pay, DONT turn up for work for a month..... What they gonna do, sack you and hire someone else......? :lol: :lol: :lol:

:mellow: I have two BA flights to catch in barely over two weeks. Just inside July.

 

I hope they sort it all out because there is no f***ing way i am going to be stranded in Los Angles or LHR.

 

 

 

I wouldn't work for free, and i hope they don't either. Thank Christ the ticket i bought is from Edinburgh to Brisbane return. Which means BA/Qantas have to get me home. If any of my flights are delayed and i miss a connection it is their responsibility to get me back to Edinburgh.

 

Thank god for coonsumer rights.

This is the exact kind of thing that communism was based on opposing Conor :mellow: Have you ever read the Communist Manifesto?

Total pisstake

 

I am sure Willie Walsh will merely be down to his last £5m in the bank after he has worked for free for a month but the staff that are barely on minimum wage and staff that are on about £15-20k a year ( the absolute majority of BA staff) will suffer big time

 

 

To be fair to BA though, they aren't making this mandatory - only asking if people want to do so, then they can offer to. Of course, you could just say that it's a pretty quick way of securing your job in this climate though so...:P

Ridiculous. :angry: I wouldn't work for no pay.

To be fair to BA though, they aren't making this mandatory - only asking if people want to do so, then they can offer to. Of course, you could just say that it's a pretty quick way of securing your job in this climate though so...:P

 

Those that do work for free will be flagged by personnel so when it comes to promotion and avoiding redundancy when they choose who to sack those that work will be first in the queue for promotion and those that refused to work for nothing will be considered disloyal and will be first in the queue for redundancies when they happen so in a way it is moral blackmail

^ Which is what I was suggesting in the last half of my post :P

LOL good point now that have read it again :rofl: :blush:

 

Long day :o

The sad thing is Walsh probably genuinely believes that BA staff really can afford to give up a month's pay. Most people trousering the sort of money he gets just haven't got a clue how most people live.

Ridiculous. :angry: I wouldn't work for no pay.

That's not rational. You wouldn't work anyway. [/bones]

Work without pay for a month? Why go to work that month at all? If they are withholding pay, you should be able to withhold work.

Rather ridiculous really, they are a pretty dire company and baffling that they expect workers to feel 'privelleged' working for them.

Someone on £750,000 a year asking people on 30 times less to work free for a month, complete joke.

 

Britain is moving towards communism at an alarming rate, if people are idiotic enough to stand for this and work a month for free then they will be working the next month and the month after for free, don't give the British government an inch because they plan to take a yard to be honest.

 

Eh? :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

 

This is nothing to do with communism. If people are idiotic enough to stand for this ... then forget communism - they may as well doff their caps, say 'yes m'lud - now would you like me to lick your arse clean so you can save on toilet paper'.

 

Norma

 

Total pisstake

 

I am sure Willie Walsh will merely be down to his last £5m in the bank after he has worked for free for a month but the staff that are barely on minimum wage and staff that are on about £15-20k a year ( the absolute majority of BA staff) will suffer big time

 

Absolutely. Big cuts in pay for executives over a longer period and the dismissal of unnecessary middle management makes much more sense...and is only fair...these are those who prosper most in the boom and must bear the brunt of the bust.

 

...and if anyone found themselves first in the queue for dismissal for not "playing ball" and working for free then I think they'd have an incredibly good case for wrongful dismissal.

Ridiculous. :angry: I wouldn't work for no pay.

 

You won't work for pay either... <_<

Those that do work for free will be flagged by personnel so when it comes to promotion and avoiding redundancy when they choose who to sack those that work will be first in the queue for promotion and those that refused to work for nothing will be considered disloyal and will be first in the queue for redundancies when they happen so in a way it is moral blackmail

 

Spot on Craig.... It's gonna be all about "who's pulling for the team.." innit....? Frankly, Walsh shouldn't even be making the suggestion.....

 

Basically, anyone who doesn't think that Workers Rights hasn't gone thoroughly down the toilet in this country needs to take a look at this issue and the current scandal surrounding the sacked refinery workers in Lindsey..... NO WAY would Total have gotten away with pulling that cr@p with French workers..... There'd've been riots on the streets of Paris and motorways blockaded by Lorry Drivers......