Union asks BA pilots to take pay cut
BRITISH Airways 3,000 pilots are being asked by their union to take an average £200-a-week pay cut to help save the cash strapped airline. The British Airline Pilots' Association (Balpa) recommends that the pilots agree to a ten per cent cut in pay and accept 100 voluntary redundancies. Letters urging them to accept the proposal will be sent out on Twesday and Balpa is confident that its proposals will be endorsed in a ballot, following weeks of talks between BA and Balpa aimed at limiting job cuts.
BA pilots earn 825,000 to 9150,000 a year with the average
salary being about 8100,000.
Negotiations with the other unions representing ground
staff, baggage handlers and cabin crew are continuing.
BA chief executive Willie Walsh has given management
and unions until the end of the month to come up with
significant savings.
The company said talks were going well, but unions have said
they will not accept compulsory redundancies - and BA has
refused to rule these out.
One of the main targets of the company's cost-cufting is the
bloated allowances received by 14,000 cabin crew, which in
certain cases gives staff an extra 91,000 for each long-haul trip.
The company wants to cut its 40,600 workforce by a further 3,000. About 2,500 staff have already left since last summer,
with others being urged to take unpaid leave or work part time.
Walsh, who is not being paid in July, has described BA as being
in a 'fight for survival' after it posted record annual losses of
8401 million in May.
