Working for nothing

MargaretR · 17-06-2009, 00:17

British Airways has asked employees to work for nothing for a month

BBC NEWS | Business | BA asks staff to work for nothing

Unbelievable

- well would you? - I wouldn't.
How have they got so much cheek to ask?

It would be a different matter if you worked for a small firm which was struggling, and you knew that the bosses didn't squander profits on flashy living, but BA !
I wonder if their shareholders are being asked to sacrifice themselves too

steeljack · 17-06-2009, 01:39

Have to agree , when I first read the story first thoughts went to the share holders , but if the "company" is making the million Pound losses as reported I doubt they are getting a return on thier stock ...

BAs problem have and allways will be
1, the debacle of having to use Heathrow as a base , the absolute worst airport in the world , Heathrow at its best is worse than Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) during the Hajj .

2, BAs in-flight service , used to be they had trolly dollys (stewardesses) who were employed to give customer service, sometime in th early 80s these 'trolly dollys' all became Princess Diana wanna-bees (flight attendants with attitude) whos sole aim was pushing duty free crap (probably on commision) ......fast forward to 2009 and the trolly dollys from the 80s have now become thru seniority and job security 50/60 year old elastic stocking wearing haridans who probably due to some Health and Safety regulations are now required to disappear from pubic view 15 minutes after take off until 15 minutes before landing .

As a "safe" airline , dont think BA flight crews are better or worse than any other 1st tier carrier (Lufthansa/Air France/KLM/Quantas etc) its just the face presented to the public during a flight which sucks big time .

entwisi · 17-06-2009, 07:08

the best bit is teh chairman is giving up one months salary of 61K. err, 61K/month, why not drop your salary to say 10K/month for a year till you get the company back on track. the 500K you save is probably the annual salary of about 20 baggage handlers..... ditto your second/third etc in command. anyone earning more than 5K/month to be dropped on a sliding scale of 10% - 80% depending on where they are between 5 and 61K.

Barrie Yates · 17-06-2009, 07:34

In my experience of international flights - around 100 or so, BA comes way down my list of preferred carriers. I put them on a par with hte likes of Turkish Air, Olympic and Lufthansa.
On a Business Class flight from New York the dessert had green mold on it. The response from BA "Management" was that they were not responsible for the food as it was provided by an outside caterer.
On one trip we flew Gulf Air from Bahrain to Nairobi and then transferred to BA to complete the trip to South Africa (Apartheid days) - the comparison did not favour BA.
On my opinion, the problems they do not provide good in-flight service, unhelpfull cabin crew and they are one of the most expensive - the best in my experience have been Emirates, Etihad (UAE). Thai and Singapore.

cashman · 17-06-2009, 08:24

this is seriously taking the mick,a poor company in severe financial trouble,asking the oiks to work fer nowt, this gesture will make no difference to the job security of these workers, as others have said the "Fat Cats" would save much more by reducing salarys of themselves, also shareholders must take a hit, to my mind any worker that offers to work fer nowt is deluding themselves.

jaysay · 17-06-2009, 08:44

I remember the old saying "anybody who'll work for nout will steal" just which planet do these people come from, it certainly ain't planet Earth

claytonender · 17-06-2009, 20:56

I was listening to the phone in on Radio 5 this morning about the proposal. It was mentioned that staff in other companies (such as Kwiksave) worked for several weeks for no pay to supposedly save the company, but had the company had still gone under.

shillelagh · 17-06-2009, 22:24

can quite honestly say my experience with british airways is a positive one ... they got me and another woman drunk coming back from belfast for free ... my first and last time i ever drank alcohol while flying .. me and the woman sat next to me both asked for vodka ... and they didnt have any of the little bottles so the stewardess gave us a bottle of duty free ... and we drank most of it and its only an hour flight ... so when we got of the plane we were holding each other up ...

Would i work for free? As a volunteer i have done, but if were i worked asked and it was a company like british airways ... i would say give me proof that the bosses had worked for free and i'll think about it ...