Would you take a pay cut to save your colleagues from unemployment? That is the conundrum reportedly faced by staff at the steel giant Corus.
According to the Financial Times, unions representing the company's 25,000 British staff have offered to accept a temporary 10% reduction in pay as a way of saving a Corus plant in Newport, South Wales, from closure.
It's worth noting straight away that one of the three unions involved later today in talks about the economic woes facing the steel industry, the GMB, has already robustly dismissed the idea as "utter bollocks".
But whether it happens or not, the story is an interesting indicator of how far staff at all levels of the corporate world are willing to bend to help see their employers – and their jobs – through these difficult times.
In October, staff at seven plants owned by the construction equipment company JCB voted to take a pay cut and work a four-day week in an effort to preserve jobs. Similar plans have been announced outside the UK, by the Irish stockbroker Davy, and a broking arm of the French bank Créedit Agricole.
According to the FT, the Corus plan would see a 10% drop in wages for six months "from the bottom to the top of the company". All very well, but if you're near the minimum wage you are less able to afford the loss than a managing director.
This is unlikely to be the last we see of this: the combination of stagnating consumer prices and grim trade conditions is likely to see accountants at a fair few other companies reach for the spreadsheets to see what a pay cut would do for the bottom line. And whatever the GMB's response, if it comes to a choice of temporarily lower pay or losing your job, it would be hard for unions to object.
What would you do to save your company? Would you take a pay cut or would you rather take your chances of another job – on full pay – elsewhere?
