In a crisis, can you call on your workers to tighten their belts with you to save the company? Many businesses may feel that they can but you have to question how enthusiastically those same workers will be. Will they have forgotten previous company behaviour towards them? ( If you say nice things, will they promote you? ) BA seems to hope so despite asking their employees to take unpaid time-off or to work for no pay (yeah right!).

Doesn't it not feel unfair that these employees could not just say no and punish those companies that in the good times ignore the well being of their staff? To keep the job, the company is not really asking, are they?

See http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jun/16/british-airways-unpaid-work OR
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8102862.stm for the story.

[First published on my NotTheNews blog on specified date]