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-   -   BA Wants You to Work For Free (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/foreign/41096-ba-wants-you-work-free.html)

deltabound 06-16-2009 06:10 AM

BA Wants You to Work For Free
 
My god. Why didn't anyone else think of this? Think of how much money airlines could make if they were non-profit, volunteer operations!

The CEO will even take a month off pay! Oh . . but that's after he takes his raise after overseeing record losses. Let's not go crazy here!

Seriously . . if this is the best the CEO can come up with, it's time for the business to close it's doors.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

British Airways asks staff to work for free - Times Online
British Airways asks staff to work for free



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 reduce costs dramatically 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 that 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.
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BA denied that those staff who volunteered for unpaid work would be given preference if the airline imposes a further round of redundancies.
The airline is currently negotiating pay deals and job reductions with its ground handling staff, pilots and cabin crew, who have been told that the airline needs to settle discussions by the end of the month. In total, BA is thought to be seeking as many as 4,000 job cuts, including 2,000 voluntary redundancies among the 14,000 cabin crew.


Last week it emerged that BA pays its cabin crew and pilots up to twice as much as rival airlines. The average salary for BA’s 14,000 cabin crew, including bonuses and allowances, is £29,900, compared with £14,400 at Virgin Atlantic and £20,200 at easyJet. BA’s pilots earn an average of £107,600, compared with £89,500 at Virgin and £71,400 at easyJet.
The request for volunteers to work for free was made in the company’s BA news magazine. In an article headlined Action Time, Mr Walsh wrote: “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.
“Our survival depends on everyone contributing to changes that permanently remove costs from every part of the business,” he added.

Sniper 06-16-2009 08:17 AM


Originally Posted by deltabound (Post 629462)
The average salary for BA’s 14,000 cabin crew, including bonuses and allowances, is £29,900, compared with £14,400 at Virgin Atlantic and £20,200 at easyJet. BA’s pilots earn an average of £107,600, compared with £89,500 at Virgin and £71,400 at easyJet.

It'd be easier to take this request if the average FA made $48,864 (more than most regional FO's here in the US!) and the average pilot made $175,845 (more than most mainline CA's here in the US, and that's BA's average, which includes their FO's).

Bump up average pay to $176K @ our airlines ($211K for the average CA and $140K for the average FO) and you'd have a lot more volunteers here in the US. UPS just went through this, in fact. Many there took voluntary cuts to prevent a furlough. Of course, they are close to BA's #'s too.:cool:

acl65pilot 06-16-2009 08:24 AM

Amen. If I was making 140-150K in the right seat I might think about working a month for a buck. But I would want it in writing to make it back.
As it stands now most FO's are below 100K and the senior ones are lucky to see 120K.
Most 767A's that I fly with are lucky to see 165K a year. That is working 80 some hrs a month!

Most European FO's make about 140EU a year and CA's make about 180-190K EU a year.

With all of these joint ventures we are the ones that will be driving their wages down, not the other way around.

Fishfreighter 06-16-2009 08:27 AM

That's nothing new. Didn't Sun Country ask for a 50% pay deferral last winter?

Bamauofa 06-16-2009 12:03 PM

British Airways. Work for free.
 
BA is asking their pilots to work for free. How long do you think it will be until some of the regional carriers here try to do the same thing.


British Airways asks employees to work without pay - Yahoo! Finance

The Juice 06-16-2009 12:13 PM


Originally Posted by Bamauofa (Post 629725)
BA is asking their pilots to work for free. How long do you think it will be until some of the regional carriers here try to do the same thing.


British Airways asks employees to work without pay - Yahoo! Finance

Either..

a) This is a foreign airline story you wanted to post in the regional section so you needed a "regional" theme to the thread.

or

b) You are high

bryris 06-16-2009 12:19 PM

Too funny.

The difference is that the "chief" probably has loads of stock in the company and other ways of making income upon the success of the company. Whereas, the labor does not - perhaps some own some shares.

powrful1 06-16-2009 03:01 PM

never gonna happen!

Eric Stratton 06-16-2009 05:58 PM

Why is everyone up in arms about this. It's less than a 10% paycut for the year and they don't have to fight to get their pay back. If they continue to come back and ask for more money then that is something else. If they don't then it was only about a 10% paycut for the year.

That's a much better deal than what the U.S. carriers have all given up.

hockeypilot44 06-17-2009 10:09 AM


Originally Posted by Eric Stratton (Post 629955)
Why is everyone up in arms about this. It's less than a 10% paycut for the year and they don't have to fight to get their pay back. If they continue to come back and ask for more money then that is something else. If they don't then it was only about a 10% paycut for the year.

That's a much better deal than what the U.S. carriers have all given up.


They just worded it differently. When you say it like that, it's a hell of a lot better than the terminated pensions and lost 40% of our salary that we will never get back.

Sniper 06-25-2009 07:17 AM


Originally Posted by Eric Stratton (Post 629955)
Why is everyone up in arms about this. It's less than a 10% paycut for the year and they don't have to fight to get their pay back. If they continue to come back and ask for more money then that is something else. If they don't then it was only about a 10% paycut for the year.

Ask the Pan Am guys in the mid 80's about that; 'just take a % cut, there's an automatic snap-back'.

Long story short, it never snapped back.

Whistlin' Dan 06-25-2009 11:39 AM

The downturn in the world economy is REAL. If BA goes into receivership, the employees won't get ANY checks for a while. Then they'll start getting them again, but they'll be for a lot less. They may look back at the times when they were only being asked to work "one month for free" as being the Halcyon Days of their company, and of their carreers.

If I were in their shoes, I'd seriously consider the offer.

DYNASTY HVY 06-25-2009 05:31 PM

Why does "Will Work For Food "come to mind when I read this thread?:D


Fred

DYNASTY HVY 06-25-2009 05:33 PM


Originally Posted by Sniper (Post 634975)
Ask the Pan Am guys in the mid 80's about that; 'just take a % cut, there's an automatic snap-back'.

Long story short, it never snapped back.

The only snap back was a trip into the history book's .


Fred

papacharlie 06-25-2009 07:32 PM

If they dont have the money to operated they should you under.Sooner or later they will sell flight tickets for the right price.Today I booked a flight from SAN to JFK next month $250 round trip.I think it should've cost me doble that and I would've paid it.

papacharlie 06-25-2009 07:33 PM

Do Not Work For Free

Bellerophon 06-25-2009 09:57 PM

If I may put some figures on this BA proposal, it might help make comparisons with the situation in the USA more understandable. Amongst other money saving plans, BA is requesting staff consider working for free, for one month, with the money being taken in installments over six months, rather than over one month.

In other words, an 8.4% pay cut over the year.

The individual employee would see a 16.7% reduction in pay for six months, then an automatic snap-back to normal salary levels. Crucially, pension entitlements remain untouched.

For BA pilots, flying 900 hours per year, in dollar terms, it means this:

  • Sen Capt....B744...(Year 24)....$251,500 pa... $280 ph down to $234 ph.
  • New Capt...B777...(Year 15)....$191,100 pa... $210 ph down to $177 ph.
  • Sen F/O.....B777...(Year 14)....$150,200 pa... $165 ph down to $139 ph.
  • New F/O.....A320...(Year 1).......$95,100 pa... $105 ph down to $ 88 ph.

The PR side of this proposal could have been better handled, however, compared to what's happened to pilots' salaries in the USA over the last few years, I wouldn't say it is too bad.

If that's what it takes to keep the airline afloat, I've little doubt the pilots will go for it, or something like it. Wouldn't you?

Best Regards

Bellerophon

skidoomike 03-28-2010 01:53 PM

This is why I got out of aviation. As many have said in these forums, everything comes with a price and a sacrafice, but somehow in aviation it is never over. Yes, you must pay your dues in every proffesion. I busted my a** for years and paid my dues 5 times but they always wanted more. Kind of like paying to get in to see a movie and then someone comes into the theatre during the movie and keeps asking for more money. And if you will not pay the price to stay in then someone else will. Sadly this tactic has moved into other proffesions as well.Would love to fly proffesionally again but only for the right people. Next week I am going to have a good time boring holes in the sky in a rented 152. Can't wait. All that mess in proffesional aviation has given me an appreciation for the simple again!

Originally Posted by deltabound (Post 629462)
My god. Why didn't anyone else think of this? Think of how much money airlines could make if they were non-profit, volunteer operations!

The CEO will even take a month off pay! Oh . . but that's after he takes his raise after overseeing record losses. Let's not go crazy here!

Seriously . . if this is the best the CEO can come up with, it's time for the business to close it's doors.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

British Airways asks staff to work for free - Times Online
British Airways asks staff to work for free



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 reduce costs dramatically 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 that 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.
function slideshowPopUp(url) { pictureGalleryPopupPic(url); return false; }

BA denied that those staff who volunteered for unpaid work would be given preference if the airline imposes a further round of redundancies.
The airline is currently negotiating pay deals and job reductions with its ground handling staff, pilots and cabin crew, who have been told that the airline needs to settle discussions by the end of the month. In total, BA is thought to be seeking as many as 4,000 job cuts, including 2,000 voluntary redundancies among the 14,000 cabin crew.


Last week it emerged that BA pays its cabin crew and pilots up to twice as much as rival airlines. The average salary for BA’s 14,000 cabin crew, including bonuses and allowances, is £29,900, compared with £14,400 at Virgin Atlantic and £20,200 at easyJet. BA’s pilots earn an average of £107,600, compared with £89,500 at Virgin and £71,400 at easyJet.
The request for volunteers to work for free was made in the company’s BA news magazine. In an article headlined Action Time, Mr Walsh wrote: “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.
“Our survival depends on everyone contributing to changes that permanently remove costs from every part of the business,” he added.


The Dominican 03-28-2010 02:49 PM


Originally Posted by Bellerophon (Post 635384)
If that's what it takes to keep the airline afloat, I've little doubt the pilots will go for it, or something like it. Wouldn't you?


The problem is that it is only the beginning, you can't expect that they will snap anything back to the way it was because they will always want more; you give them an inch and they take a f.....! oh sorry, you give them a centimeter and they want a meter. Employee costs are a negligible part of the aviation costs and they never equate to profitability margins that will safe or doom an airline but they always equate to extra money for the share holders.


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