Air NZ Should Get On With Running The Airline

Air NZ should immediately withdraw its outsourcing proposal and get back to the business of running the airline, says the union representing check-in staff at Auckland International and Domestic airports.

The Service and Food Workers Union Nga Ringa Tota says its members are very distressed at on-going delays in the company’s decision on contracting-out the jobs of approximately 1700 ground-handling staff.

Northern Regional Secretary Jill Ovens says members’ lives have been on hold since May last year and they are at the end of their tether. A decision was expected by 7 February, but there have been further delays as Air NZ CEO Rob Fyfe has continued to push for concessions from the unions.

“It seems that Air NZ has no intention to outsource. This appears to have been a ploy to extract workers’ terms and conditions at a time when our members can’t take industrial action because our Collective Agreement hasn’t expired,” Ms Ovens says.

Air NZ has been pressuring unions to make major concessions on terms and conditions, including roster changes and cutbacks on penal rates and allowances.

Air NZ’s package of clawbacks was put to SFWU members at a round of meetings two weeks ago. The members rejected the company’s demands, saying they are prepared to negotiate when their CEA comes up for renewal in June – and not before.

“Air NZ is using the threat of outsourcing to hold a gun to our head,” Ms Ovens says.

Air NZ claims that preferred outsource provider Swissport could run ground-handling services for $20 million less and it is on this basis that Air NZ says its services are not competitive.

The SFWU submitted an alternative proposal to keep airport jobs “in-house”, but this was rejected by management because SFWU members did not include cuts to core conditions in their proposal, Ms Ovens says.

The EPMU is negotiating separately with Air NZ to try to get agreement on a variation to their CEA which they could take to their members as a last ditch attempt to avoid outsourcing.

But Air NZ has said any agreement would also have to be ratified by SFWU members.

Ms Ovens says if Air NZ gets away with using the threat of outsourcing as leverage to extract concessions during the term of a Collective Agreement, other employers might also follow suit.

“That makes a mockery of the whole idea of a Collective Agreement as a contract that remains in force until it reaches its expiry date.”

Ms Ovens says the proposal to cut labour costs through outsourcing appears to have enhanced Air NZ’s share price, but it has seriously damaged the company’s image as a New Zealand icon.

“Air NZ trades on New Zealand values such as caring for passengers at every stage of the ‘customer journey’. They say ‘It’s who we are’ and then in the next breath, consider contracting out front-line staff to a multi-national company. It doesn’t make sense.”

ENDS

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