Pay cut agreed by thousands of BA employees

www.britishairways.com

British Airways announced on Thursday that more than one in six of its employees agreed to work either for free or part-time, or to take unpaid leave.

The carrier’s chief executive, Willie Walsh, said in a statement: “This is a fantastic first response. I want to thank everyone who has volunteered to help us pull through this difficult period.”

By 24 June, of the 40,000 employees, 6,940 volunteered for unpaid leave, part-time work or unpaid work. The airline has said that their actions will mean savings of up to £10 million.

Of those volunteering, 4,000 chose to take unpaid leave, 1,400 chose to switch to part-time status and 800 have said they will work without pay, according to comments made by BA to CNN. An additional 740 employees located outside the UK also chose one of the three options, and the carrier is compiling these numbers, the BA press office said.

Last week, the airline asked its staff to consider working for free for up to four weeks, according to spokeswoman Kirsten Millard.

In an email to all BA employees on 16 June, workers were offered unpaid leave of one to four weeks – with the option of continuing to work during that time.

Thanks to edition.cnn.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.britishairways.com