Threat Of Strikes At Air New Zealand.
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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.
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.
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Reuters
Air NZ says pilots give notice of two-day strike
By Graeme Peters
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Air New Zealand said on Tuesday the union representing most of its pilots had given notice of a two-day strike this month.
Air NZ said the strike would affect its domestic and international services but not those of its Mount Cook or Freedom Air units or any other airline in the group.
The airline said it had been talking with the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) to seek ways to trim costs and lift productivity.
"It is also asking all employee groups (including ALPA members) to accept a 12-month wage pause to help it regain commercial viability after the group came close to collapse last year", the airline said.
However ALPA said the strike, from 4 a.m. (1600 GMT) on July 19 to the same time on July 21, was about job security rather than pay.
"Air New Zealand is seeking to exercise what it perceives to be its right to send people's work to any subsidiary it wants to, and as a result remove the job security of Air New Zealand pilots," union advocate Adam Nicholson said.
Nicholson said ALPA represented about 500 Air New Zealand pilots whose employment contract expired 16 months ago. A further 100 Air New Zealand pilots were covered by another organisation.
About 40 percent of ALPA-represented pilots have more than 20 years of service with Air New Zealand, but the airline's five-year plan would farm their work to mainly wholly-owned subsidiaries.
Air New Zealand said in May that it planned to launch a low-frills domestic service, to be called Air NZ Express, to be followed by unspecified changes to international operations.
Employment contracts provided for the right to fly company aircraft, Nicolson said.
"Because we have been unable to satisfactorily address these fundamental issues we have somewhat reluctantly issued a notice of a strike to focus the company's attention on job security, job prospects, and...the Employment Relations Act," Nicholson said.
Shares in Air NZ, which is 82 percent owned by the NZ government since a NZ$885 million rescue package was finalised earlier this year, closed down one cent at NZ$0.64 in a slightly weaker overall market.
Air NZ says pilots give notice of two-day strike
By Graeme Peters
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Air New Zealand said on Tuesday the union representing most of its pilots had given notice of a two-day strike this month.
Air NZ said the strike would affect its domestic and international services but not those of its Mount Cook or Freedom Air units or any other airline in the group.
The airline said it had been talking with the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) to seek ways to trim costs and lift productivity.
"It is also asking all employee groups (including ALPA members) to accept a 12-month wage pause to help it regain commercial viability after the group came close to collapse last year", the airline said.
However ALPA said the strike, from 4 a.m. (1600 GMT) on July 19 to the same time on July 21, was about job security rather than pay.
"Air New Zealand is seeking to exercise what it perceives to be its right to send people's work to any subsidiary it wants to, and as a result remove the job security of Air New Zealand pilots," union advocate Adam Nicholson said.
Nicholson said ALPA represented about 500 Air New Zealand pilots whose employment contract expired 16 months ago. A further 100 Air New Zealand pilots were covered by another organisation.
About 40 percent of ALPA-represented pilots have more than 20 years of service with Air New Zealand, but the airline's five-year plan would farm their work to mainly wholly-owned subsidiaries.
Air New Zealand said in May that it planned to launch a low-frills domestic service, to be called Air NZ Express, to be followed by unspecified changes to international operations.
Employment contracts provided for the right to fly company aircraft, Nicolson said.
"Because we have been unable to satisfactorily address these fundamental issues we have somewhat reluctantly issued a notice of a strike to focus the company's attention on job security, job prospects, and...the Employment Relations Act," Nicholson said.
Shares in Air NZ, which is 82 percent owned by the NZ government since a NZ$885 million rescue package was finalised earlier this year, closed down one cent at NZ$0.64 in a slightly weaker overall market.
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Farrari,
You might not believe me if I told you! I believe they are the lowest pay rates for B737 crew in the western world!
You first buy your own rating and then the FO's start on less than 40k KIWI, CPT's on about 90k KIWI. Yes thats right about 36k Oz & 78k Oz respectively. And their conditions aren't great either.
Thats about 1/2 the pay of a new VB FO without the type endorsment "payback" deal. Even turboprop operators in OZ pay better than that! I don't blame our Kiwi cousins for being upset, Air NZ mainline pay is already poor by real airline stds anyway (about 1/2 to 2/3rds of QF on average) The airline has just relied on the fact the Kiwis want to live at home and thus exploited the market.
I feel Freedom relied on GA guys effectively buying a job so that "one day" they would get a real one with their jet time! Well just look what they've done to those real jobs now - sometimes pilots are their own worst enemies!
Hang tough Air NZ guys, your airline is in the black again and just using this as an excuse. They already have the cheapest wages for some of the regions top guys (and gals).
You might not believe me if I told you! I believe they are the lowest pay rates for B737 crew in the western world!
You first buy your own rating and then the FO's start on less than 40k KIWI, CPT's on about 90k KIWI. Yes thats right about 36k Oz & 78k Oz respectively. And their conditions aren't great either.
Thats about 1/2 the pay of a new VB FO without the type endorsment "payback" deal. Even turboprop operators in OZ pay better than that! I don't blame our Kiwi cousins for being upset, Air NZ mainline pay is already poor by real airline stds anyway (about 1/2 to 2/3rds of QF on average) The airline has just relied on the fact the Kiwis want to live at home and thus exploited the market.
I feel Freedom relied on GA guys effectively buying a job so that "one day" they would get a real one with their jet time! Well just look what they've done to those real jobs now - sometimes pilots are their own worst enemies!
Hang tough Air NZ guys, your airline is in the black again and just using this as an excuse. They already have the cheapest wages for some of the regions top guys (and gals).
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Fly gringo,
Thanks for the support. You are spot on with what you say about the comparitive pay scales between NZ and AUS.
Not the best way for an airline on a knife edge trying to reinvent itself and survive!!!
With progression already extremely slow (S/O for 8-10 yrs at current rate) and pay rates decidedly average by world standards this is really going to jam things up.
Thanks for the support. You are spot on with what you say about the comparitive pay scales between NZ and AUS.
Not the best way for an airline on a knife edge trying to reinvent itself and survive!!!
With progression already extremely slow (S/O for 8-10 yrs at current rate) and pay rates decidedly average by world standards this is really going to jam things up.
Moderate, Modest & Mild.
Would someone like to provide us with the TOTAL payouts Air New Zealand's upper "executives" receive, please.
These are the people who are responsible for the position the airline is in now, and you can BET that their bonuses are performance-based.
Hence a reduction in staff salaries will show an increase in revenue, further allowing the "execs" to grab more, more, more.
These are the people who are responsible for the position the airline is in now, and you can BET that their bonuses are performance-based.
Hence a reduction in staff salaries will show an increase in revenue, further allowing the "execs" to grab more, more, more.
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FlyGringo,
Agree with your comments, ANZ is lucky that most Kiwis enjoy the lifestyle and would rather stay at home for less money.
But how hard do we all want to be shafted.
The other thing is, why is it always the pilots! Have the ground staff, hosties, etc, etc been hit with a similar deal?
Aviation money in NZ has always and in my opinion will always be crap. Untill the travelling public start paying, and the airlines start charging what it actually cost to run an airline then the salaries will always be crap. (Try to buy a short notice ticket in the states and see how it feels! Feels like you are buying shares in the place!)
If ANZ wants to start a low cost model why can they not pay decent salaries like Easy or VB?
If your Freedom salary figures are correct, I am appaled, less than 40K for flying a jet! Pay for your type rating! What a shafting. Then hopefully at the end of it you will get the all elusive jet job, but by the time that happens the salaries for that will have been erroded to the point where you will be better off staying where you are. I agree with the comment that pilots are their own worst enemies. If you talk to anyone outside the industry and mention that some people actually pay money to get a job they will think that it is absolutly absurd. Well in my opinion it is.
I have no problems with bonding, as the airline must be expected to get a return on it's training investment in you, however in my opinion if they want you, they can pay the training costs.
Only as a group can pilots stop this behavior happening. Support ALPA.
As for the Air New Zealand boys (and girls). Right behind you.
Kia Kaha. Be strong.
Agree with your comments, ANZ is lucky that most Kiwis enjoy the lifestyle and would rather stay at home for less money.
But how hard do we all want to be shafted.
The other thing is, why is it always the pilots! Have the ground staff, hosties, etc, etc been hit with a similar deal?
Aviation money in NZ has always and in my opinion will always be crap. Untill the travelling public start paying, and the airlines start charging what it actually cost to run an airline then the salaries will always be crap. (Try to buy a short notice ticket in the states and see how it feels! Feels like you are buying shares in the place!)
If ANZ wants to start a low cost model why can they not pay decent salaries like Easy or VB?
If your Freedom salary figures are correct, I am appaled, less than 40K for flying a jet! Pay for your type rating! What a shafting. Then hopefully at the end of it you will get the all elusive jet job, but by the time that happens the salaries for that will have been erroded to the point where you will be better off staying where you are. I agree with the comment that pilots are their own worst enemies. If you talk to anyone outside the industry and mention that some people actually pay money to get a job they will think that it is absolutly absurd. Well in my opinion it is.
I have no problems with bonding, as the airline must be expected to get a return on it's training investment in you, however in my opinion if they want you, they can pay the training costs.
Only as a group can pilots stop this behavior happening. Support ALPA.
As for the Air New Zealand boys (and girls). Right behind you.
Kia Kaha. Be strong.
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The bosses seem to be congratulating themselves that the recovery programme is ahead of schedule, albeit aided by lower fuel prices and a faster than expected recovery of the industry, ex-Sep 11th.
All of the serfs have come to the party to help salvage the company from the results of a truely stupid business decision.
The bosses are perhaps unaware that the goodwill of the serfs,
(largely squandered by those same bosses in niggly, petty acts and attitudes over the past 10 years), is nearly exhausted.
It occurs to me that, if the business plan for recovery does not include treating your people in a decent fashion, then your business plan is deficient.
or even
(spelling!)
All of the serfs have come to the party to help salvage the company from the results of a truely stupid business decision.
The bosses are perhaps unaware that the goodwill of the serfs,
(largely squandered by those same bosses in niggly, petty acts and attitudes over the past 10 years), is nearly exhausted.
It occurs to me that, if the business plan for recovery does not include treating your people in a decent fashion, then your business plan is deficient.
or even (spelling!)
Last edited by cribble; 3rd Jul 2002 at 08:26.
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AHA
now they try to shaft the employees.
after the ansett mishap and the government handout and the promises of no golden handshakes this happens.
well the goldenhandshakes were continued after the handout. and now they have to try and drop the pay to cover their costs.
the pilots pay is low enough as it is. why not the management as well take a pay cut?
now they try to shaft the employees.
after the ansett mishap and the government handout and the promises of no golden handshakes this happens.
well the goldenhandshakes were continued after the handout. and now they have to try and drop the pay to cover their costs.
the pilots pay is low enough as it is. why not the management as well take a pay cut?
Moderate, Modest & Mild.
Please supply the PPRuNe readers with the FULL payment details made to Air New Zealand's "executives".
It's time for the GREED to stop, and the FACTS publicised wrt salaries!
It's time for the GREED to stop, and the FACTS publicised wrt salaries!
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Bend over and take it up the perochials like real men and women.
At least you have jobs, unlike the 12000 STILL unemployed Ansett staff your company screwed in its suicidal yet succesful attempt to prevent SQ from buying 50% of the company.
At least you have jobs, unlike the 12000 STILL unemployed Ansett staff your company screwed in its suicidal yet succesful attempt to prevent SQ from buying 50% of the company.
Moderate, Modest & Mild.
"Here, here", longjohn!
Grovel, and be grateful to have a job - regardless of how much you are paid!!
More hours, less money for the cannon fodder, while the non-revenue producers keep skimming the company.
Time to expose the real parasites.
Grovel, and be grateful to have a job - regardless of how much you are paid!!
More hours, less money for the cannon fodder, while the non-revenue producers keep skimming the company.
Time to expose the real parasites.
Moderate, Modest & Mild.
Is there a difference between Ansett staff being unemployed, and working for Freedom Air?
C'mon Buster, you can do better than ask corny questions such as that.
DJ pilots have a job, for which many LEFT other employers to gain employment.
Air New Zealand pilots are being used as obvious sacrificial lambs (no pun intended) by a management who are hungry for $$'s with which to line their OWN pockets.
C'mon Buster, you can do better than ask corny questions such as that.
DJ pilots have a job, for which many LEFT other employers to gain employment.
Air New Zealand pilots are being used as obvious sacrificial lambs (no pun intended) by a management who are hungry for $$'s with which to line their OWN pockets.
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Hey longjohn
How about how your government screwed ANZ for the Trans Tasman Agreement?
As far as the money for the top exec's is concerned the rumour just had a very high dollar figure suggested for the golden handshakes. Somewhere in the figure of a years salary for each exec who got fired/redundant/asked to leave/quit whatever it was. Some of those salaries where more than a captains wage.
How about how your government screwed ANZ for the Trans Tasman Agreement?
As far as the money for the top exec's is concerned the rumour just had a very high dollar figure suggested for the golden handshakes. Somewhere in the figure of a years salary for each exec who got fired/redundant/asked to leave/quit whatever it was. Some of those salaries where more than a captains wage.
Evertonian
Well, I could imagine some would possibly take a pay cut to come "home" from O/S, but do you think many left QF/AN/ANZ to go to DJ?
I accept that the difference between DJ & ANZ's crew situations is that DJ crews were well aware of the conditions upon joining, whereas ANZ crews are being $crewed by their management..(been there, done that!)... It's just that some posters here quite enjoy pointing out AN's demise was due, in part, to unsustainable wages and that's why DJ succeeded AN. Yet, bemoan the fact that when an airline is trying to cut costs (again, I'm not supporting the act or the method) through it's wage bill, people are up in arms.
Whilst you guys are at the pointy end, to management, you're just another number like the bloke that cleans the $hitter!
I accept that the difference between DJ & ANZ's crew situations is that DJ crews were well aware of the conditions upon joining, whereas ANZ crews are being $crewed by their management..(been there, done that!)... It's just that some posters here quite enjoy pointing out AN's demise was due, in part, to unsustainable wages and that's why DJ succeeded AN. Yet, bemoan the fact that when an airline is trying to cut costs (again, I'm not supporting the act or the method) through it's wage bill, people are up in arms.
Whilst you guys are at the pointy end, to management, you're just another number like the bloke that cleans the $hitter!