A deadline for British Airways employees to volunteer for a �work for free� scheme passed yesterday with the airline still in tense negotiations with unions over its savings proposals.

A deadline for British Airways employees to volunteer for a "work for free" scheme passed yesterday with the airline still in tense negotiations with unions over its savings proposals.

The company's request for staff to undertake unpaid work followed an earlier cost-saving plans allowing employees to work part-time or take unpaid holidays.

BA recently announced a £401m loss for 2008, its biggest in 25 years.

More than 1000 staff had earlier signed up for an unpaid reduction in hours but the airline yesterday declined to reveal the total number who had applied for the scheme.

A company spokeswoman also refused to say if any employees except chief executive Willie Walsh and his chief financial officer, Keith Wiliams, had yet volunteered to work without pay.

However, unions representing cabin crew and ground staff yesterday poured scorn on the proposals.

Mick Rix, national officer for aviation at the GMB union, said: "Our members would take this proposal much more seriously if BA was proposing a permanent, radical change to the pay structure of its senior executives."

A spokesman for Unite added: "Willie Walsh can afford to work for a month for free, but our members can't."

Balpa, which represents airline pilots, is currently balloting its members over a proposal to cut pay by 2.6% in return for receiving shares in the company in 2011 worth £13m if targets are achieved.

Passenger numbers for the year to March 31 fell by 4.3%. BA has lost 2500 jobs since last summer and is thought to want 4000 more. A BA spokesman said: "The deadline for reducing working hours is today It's too early to say what the numbers are."