Threat Of Strikes At Air New Zealand.
Threat of strikes at Air NZ
02 JULY 2002
By DAVID KING
Air New Zealand pilots are threatening to strike after the airline demanded they accept a 15 per cent pay cut along with a controversial new rostering regime.
The airline is also facing a separate round of industrial action from 350 of its engineers in Christchurch who have overwhelmingly voted to reject the airline's latest pay offer.
Air New Zealand is trying to cut costs as it struggles to recover after the demise of its Ansett subsidiary and the subsequent $885 million bail-out from the Government.
The airline has given the Air Line Pilots' Association (ALPA) until Thursday to agree to a new pay and conditions deal which proposes a 15 per cent pay cut for the airline's 640 pilots.
An ALPA briefing document, obtained by The Press, says the union believes pilots now have no alternative but to strike.
The union and the airline declined to comment last night, saying the talks were continuing.
Air New Zealand's proposal document, also obtained by The Press, shows the airline wants to counter the threat of a value-based airline setting up a cut-price service in New Zealand by bringing its terms and conditions into line with the costs competitors would have.
It wants to bring its pilots' pay into line with the lower rates paid to those in its Freedom Air business.
Total flight costs would have to be reduced by 10 per cent a year, and a new rostering system and a simplified pay structure would be introduced.
The airline says all this can be done while maintaining and in some cases enhancing pilot pay levels.
ALPA has written to members saying the airline is demanding the right to swap pilots on to different duties and to switch wide-body and narrow-body jets around without regard to pre-existing employment conditions.
ALPA claims this breaches the Employment Relations Act.
Meanwhile, unions representing 350 engineers at the airline's Christchurch airport engineering services business have been told to look at the options for industrial action after members almost unanimously rejected a pay offer.
Air New Zealand is understood to have proposed a pay freeze for 12 months, followed by a review.
A source at the engineering business at Christchurch airport said the offer would leave engineers out of pocket.
"We've got work coming out our ears – the order books are full for the next two years. We're the only bit of the airline making money but they still want to shaft us. It's effectively a pay cut."
He said the engineers understood that Air New Zealand had been through a difficult time, but all they were asking was for their pay to keep pace with inflation.
The source said a radical element among staff were calling for full-blown industrial action, but a work to rule or overtime ban was more likely.
"The aviation industry is heavily regulated. Safety is never compromised but it is quite easy to slow things down if you do everything to the letter."
The source said an overtime ban was likely to be most effective because a lot of work on aircraft was done overnight to keep them in service.
Aviation and Marine Engineers' Association assistant secretary George Ryde said negotiations were continuing but he would not comment on the details.
"It would breach good faith if I were to speak about it, which wouldn't be in the interests of my members."
The Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union could not be reached for comment.
The Christchurch Engine Centre, which is a joint venture between Pratt & Whitney and Air New Zealand, is not covered by the same agreement. The centre, which is also at the airport, employs 300.