BA tells staff to work longer for less pay

British Airways' 17,000 ground staff have been urged to take pay cuts of up to a third, a three-year wage freeze or a five-hour increase in the working week as part of the airline's most radical plans yet to maximise profits.

Apart from the pay cut, which would cost many of them pounds 100 a week, employees have been asked to consider a reduction in their leave entitlement and the abolition of holiday pay, The Independent has learned.

The suggestions - which also include flexible annual hours and overtime at basic rates - are among 60 options presented to both blue-collar and administrative staff in order to save pounds 1bn by the end of the decade and boost profits, which this year reached a record pounds 535m.

It is understood that union leaders are preparing to ballot ground staff on industrial action in protest at the cuts, but management is drawing up relatively generous severance terms for those who prefer to leave.

The company is seeking similar sacrifices on pay from some 600 cabin crew, based at regional airports, as part of the company's "Step Change" initiative to make pounds 1bn profits in four years' time.

The regional workforce has been told that if the cuts are not achieved, BA will franchise the services to other airlines.

The "Step Change" document also warns that some ground-based BA services could be switched to cheaper locations to take advantage of lower pay rates.

It has already set up "on-screen" functions in India to take advantage of a numerate English-speaking population, who will work for less than a tenth of the pay received by British staff.

Aircrew on long-haul flights have been asked to agree to the introduction of more foreign-based staff, presently numbering 850. Most of them will be working for lower rates than their British-based colleagues.

Pay rates for newly employed staff on long-haul flights are expected to decline by around 20 per cent. The airline intends to recruit 4,000 new crew over the next three years.

The company's engineering subsidiary, which is likely to be floated off as a separate company, is seeking 1,700 voluntary redundancies out of a workforce of around 7,000. Overall the company says it wants to cut about 5,000 jobs. BA intends to make a huge investment in replacement aircraft.

A spokesman said the proposals were about "the survival of the airline". "If we do not act now our profits will rapidly decline and all our jobs will be threatened," he said.

Management was working with staff to find the solutions. "In many areas we have started the debate by listing a number of possibilities. We are waiting for staff to respond and make their own suggestions for change."