British Airways has asked its 40,000 staff to work without pay for up to a month as the ailing airline seeks to cut costs. The group, which made a record £401 million loss in 2008 amid surging fuel prices and a collapse in premium-fare passengers, is seeking to dramatically reduce costs and has already offered staff unpaid leave or a reduction in hours.

Willie Walsh, BA's chief executive, has now gone a step further by asking staff to volunteer for between one and four weeks of unpaid work in what he says is a "fight for survival."

Mr Walsh, who said last week he would work for free in July, has set a deadline of June 24 for employees to volunteer for unpaid work. He said that the salary deductions would be spread over three to six months wherever possible. BA denied that those staff who volunteered for unpaid work would be given preference if the airline imposes a further round of redundancies.

Read the full article in The Times.



Glad to see you're leading by example, Willie! Ask the staff to work for nothing while you trouser a 6% pay rise and a possible £1.1 million in deferred share bonuses.

You're quoted as saying, "Our survival depends on everyone contributing to changes that permanently remove costs from every part of the business".

Hmmm. We can think of one way to permanently remove costs from the top of the business. And you could also stop spending millions on propaganda supporting the third runway.