Would you work for nothing?

[Oneeyedvic]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8102862.st m

British Airways is asking thousands of staff to work for nothing, for up to one month, to help the airline survive.

The appeal, sent by e-mail to more than 30,000 workers in the UK, asks them to volunteer for between one week and one month's unpaid leave, or unpaid work.

BA's chief executive Willie Walsh has already agreed to work unpaid in July, forgoing his month's salary of �61,000.

Last month, BA posted a record annual loss of �401m, partly due to higher fuel bills and other costs.

Mr Walsh said BA's drive to save cash was part of a "fight for survival".

Would you work for nothing to try and 'save' the company that you work for?

*Self employed need not answer as it is taken as read :)

[sqad617]

As a temporary measure to ensure my employment.....YES.

Interesting to get the reply of public sector workers.

[DrFilth]

if he only gets �61,000 a month how is he going to manage


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[icemaiden]

My partner is an engineer for BA. If he works for nothing ,even if it is for up to one month, we can't pay the bills.

Willie Walsh will still have an income of �743,000 a year if he defaults one months wages. I mean, �61,000, my partner doesn't even earn that in four years!

[Twenty20]

Hmm, but he wont be able to pay the bills either, for a lot longer, if he's made redundant.

If I truly believed that a company I worked for, and I wanted to continue working for, was in trouble because of the recession I'd certainly take a temporary pay cut. It would seem a bit short sighted not to.

[Nosha123]

I agree with the above - if it saves my own job and means I will not face redundancy then yes I would have to agree to it.
Nobody wants to do it - but faced with the option of BA going BUST and losing my job permanently I would have to say yes I would do it.

[sqad617]

No answers of yet from public sector workers:

NHS
Schools
Town Hall workers.

?????

[icemaiden]

A pay cut is one thing, but no pay is not acceptable.

I have already taken a pay cut in my job because I believe something is better than nothing. I'm sure my partner would also be happy to take a pay cut in order to keep his job for a while longer but I do not agree that people should work for no pay.

[joggerjayne]

Absolutley, DrFilth ...

If he's only earning �61,000 a month, he can't have been able to put anything aside.

Cripes ... people like that just don't get it, do they. He will have enough saved up to last for years without being paid. A lot of the employees will be living month to month. If they don't get paid, they don't eat.

[Nosha123]

Plus Icemaiden. just because Willie Walsh earns a shedload each month - how do you know his mortgage or outgoings are massive also?
I dont know that they are or arent.. but since we all here probably live a bit beyond our means - doesnt mean he doesnt either!
He could have a huge mortgage - loads of bills plus private school care fees.
Yes I know he earns a load of money - but its unlikely he lives in a 3 bed semi...

[Booldawg]

Without knowing how much revenue this will raise for BA its hard to tell if this call for charity from its workforce will ensure stability for the company and its employees.

[Nosha123]

by the way I am not defending Willie Walsh.. the rich B****

Icemaiden - if you hadnt taken a pay cut already - and were told the company could collapse and to try to save it and your job they asked people to forgoe 1 months wages - would you not agree? Can you see that the long term benefit could mean saving your job in the long run....?

I guess they should have done paycuts a while back if they knew they were facing problems - or maybe make a few redundancies...
Just hope your partner isnt one of the unlucky ones!!!!

[jake-the-peg]

If I worked for BA I might look at the profits posted by Virgin and wonder if the bad situation that BA was in was due to me or due to poor decisions by Mr Walsh and his board.

I might also wonder if in a company with a turnover of �9 billion 30,000 employees forgoing a few thousand pounds was going to save my job.

I might also wonder if given that it made �696 million in 2008, and �400 odd million the previous years it might have better reserves.

I finally might wonder if Mr Walsh instead of building financial reserves paid too much money as dividends to boost the stock price and hence his own remuneration package.

[joannie10]

its a tricky one cause I would really be struggling without a months wages but then again if it meant I had a job for a bit longer it would be worth it. It does say that they are asking staff to do that or take some unpaid leave. Obvioiusly if had to do one or the other would be more tempted to take unpaid leave but I bet the company would look on that less favourably - maybe if the company was then to go on and make people redundant they would let go the people that took the unpaid leave rather than those that worked for nothing. IN answer to your question then I suppose Yes, if I had to!

[China Doll]

Absolutely not. I work for the NHS so it's unlikely to happen anyway. The only way this would work for me is if I could take a break from paying rent, bills and eating for a month.

[sqad617]

Ah! the public sector workers are coming to the surface........they wouldn't work without pay.....no surprise there then with their pensions guaranteed,

�61, 000 for a CE of a major British Company is PEANUTS......just ask any American counterpart.

[Oneeyedvic]

Just to clear up any confusion (and for those who haven't read the original article):

It asks staff to volunteer by the end of this month for between one week and one month of unpaid leave or unpaid work.

The lost salary will be spread over between three and six months.

[Julnar]

I wouldn't work for no pay either. I wouldn't be exempt from paying bills or eating, so why should I? If you're made redundant, you have benefit options, but this seems like a well paid boss having no real idea how his workforce live and that is worrying in itself. I would however take a pay cut if that helped a company stay solvent.

[jake-the-peg]

Public sector workers earn a lot less squad as you well know - many couldn't afford to foregoe a pay-check as many of BA's lower paid staff can't

BUT


Here is the reumuneration comitte report for BA

http://www.britishairways.com/cms/global/micro sites/ba_reports/pdfs/26_CG_Remuneration.pdf

It's hillarious!

The Committee retained discretion
to prevent any bonus payments if the Company�s performance
was judged by it to be inadequate.


Whilst Willie Walsh and the comittee mutually agreed that it would be inappropriate for him to receive a performance related bonus - Keith Williams the other executive director did!

So he's taking performance related bonuses at a time that they're asking their staff to take a pay cut!

[libertie]

While I may consider taking a pay cut If I thought my company was struggling I doubt very much that I would work a month for nothing especially for a company like BA!

[China Doll]

To be honest Vic, even with the payments spread, as Jake says, us public sector workers (who are not doctors/dentists) don't earn a heck of a lot all things considered, (I know the job I do now I could get paid at least �5000 more in the private sector but I dislike working in that area) so even with the payments spread out, I would find the difference from living life comfortably to just living to exist too much to stand. I've done that before and when all you're doing is getting by, it's soul destroying.

Interesting thread though.