And From Across the Ditch
Air New Zealand confirms 70 jobs to go to Fiji
Wednesday, 4 October 2006
Air New Zealand management has given to the green light to a proposal to outsource most of its finance department clerical work to Fiji.
It was revealed that approximately 70 clerical jobs in Air New Zealand’s finance business area, called Financial Shared Services will move offshore to Fiji from January 2007.
The latest move has demoralised current finance workers, with the union representing them quick to criticise Air NZ.
Service and Food Workers Union regional secretary Jill Ovens commented: “Air New Zealand corporate management is driven by ideology. The focus is to secure a low-paid workforce who are passive and compliant. If the outsourcing is a failure, it will be a huge cost to the company. But they will have succeeded in de-unionising a whole section of their workforce, so they probably think it is worth the risk.
The group will also announce this week whether it will contract out Air New Zealand ground staff at airports. More than a thousand jobs could be shed by the company if the contracting out is implemented.
So will QF Finance follow? As more and more departments go off shore - perhaps it's time that all unions/staff work together on this. Betcha IT nad Finance have never worried about Tech and Cabin crew before? Betcha they will start to take an interest in what's happening now?