Yes PP - what you hear is true. The recent contract put out for ratification by NZALPA was thrown out by the troops.
Why? Well good question, and the answer you would get would depend on who you speak too, and what I mean by that, there are a varity of reasons, each one by it's self not a major, but combined ..... and
happens
The following are some of the reasons which jump to mind which may help you, and it is my hope that others will add their bit so as to build the bigger picture, and keep the thread alive.
Airways management (middle and senior) have really lost touch with what is going on within the ATC side of the company. They are so busy being important and working on their egos, that they have forgotten the core business. A good example of this is that the Notam office/flight briefing section in Christchurch is under threat of take over by Air Services Oz, and Ashley did not know about it??? I mean what the
?
A real mistake made by Airways, I think, is the new building which has been erected next to the centre in Christchurch. What I mean by this is, it has allowed the controllers to see other parts of the company, which up until now have been hidden. This means we can now see all the non money generating part of Airways and how big it is. There are people in there for Africa, yet the ATC side - the money side - is getting smaller and smaller, and the building more derelict by the day - the staff room should have been renovated months ago - but still nothing. Not good for morale no matter which way you look at it.
Then there is HR - who have made a right real botch of most things.
Things appear to have been compounded by NZALPA not reading the mood of the troops, and agreeing to something which while in their opinion may have been as good as it gets but it is short by a bit for the man/woman in the chair, and from what I understand, it was thrown out by a country mile.
So where to next?
The message to NZALPA is clear, get back in there and negotiate until you get something the troops will accept, and lets be clear here, this is not all about industral action, it's about negotiation.
Airways need to go back to basics and look after the people that make the money for them, and to get rid of a lot of those that don't. In fact a re-structure is way overdue, and heads really need to roll over a few issues. Also they need to get real with their customers and put their price up, just as any other business would do when their over heads have gone up, and to say Air NZ cannot afford it, after just posting a how many million profit, just does not wash. In fact my power bill has just gone up and this is how the letter went:
"Our electrictiy prices are increasing
How will this affect you?
Dear Mr & Mrs SayAgainSally
We are glad you've chosen to be with Contact Energy. With effect from 1 Sept 2007 our electricty prices in the ........ and surrounding districts will increase to reflect the changing costs of supplying electricty to customers"
So let me see if I can re-word that.
"Our ATC prices are increasing
How will this affect you?
Dear Mr & Mrs Air NZ/Qantas/Pac Blue/etc
We are glad you have chosen to be with Airways NZ. With effect from 1 Sept 2007 our ATC prices in the ....... and surrounding airspace will be increased to reflect the changing cost of supplying ATC to customers"
Geez that was easy - anyone from management want a copy of Contact's letter? Maybe you got one as well?
The real killer however was the SIP (sharing in performance) payment, which was frankly - pathetic, especially after the sale of the Airways buildings which made soooo much money for Airways. If the SIP was anything to go by, then thank the God's the buildings were sold!!! That said, no matter how much the spin, no one would convince me to sell my house and lease it back if I did not have to. Ooooo maybe they did have to sell the buildings - now thats a good one to start
In the between times, ATC staff continue to resign, HR continue to bring in non - TMR controllers from overseas and put them on TMR sectors - and then wonder why they are taking such a long time to rate.
In the words of Sir Andrew Lloyd Wbber from his classic show Evita (and please feel free to sing along) "Oh what a circus, oh what a show".
SAS