26 March 2007

Air NZ offers $3000 bribe

Air NZ is offering a $3000 bribe to baggage handlers and check-in staff if they agree to cuts in their pay and conditions.

The one-off taxable payment and an offer of targeted redundancy/severance will only apply if all the conditions of the Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union-negotiated deal are accepted by its members at meetings over the next few days.

The payment will be available only to those who agree to stay on with Air NZ under the new pay and conditions. To get the payment, airport services workers would have to be an EPMU member or agree to an individual employment agreement (IEA).

Service and Food Workers Union Northern Regional Secretary Jill Ovens says SFWU members will remain on their current superior terms and conditions.

“Air NZ can’t do anything about it because they can’t force us to break our Collective Agreement.”

Ms Ovens says the EPMU-negotiated deal involves splitting up the current EPMU Collective Agreement. The two unions each have CEAs that do not expire until 30 June 2007, and these also cover staff in cargo, finance, call centres and travel centres. The proposed EPMU CEA would be for airport services staff only.

“Our members voted against splitting up the Collective at meetings held last week. To agree to this would greatly weaken their position in the upcoming negotiations.”

The SFWU told Air NZ in January that the union was prepared to renegotiate the SFWU CEA immediately after initiation of bargaining on 1 May.

“We did not want to go into negotiations at that time when we would have had two hands tied behind our backs and a gun to our head,” Ms Ovens says.

Even if workers give in to Air NZ demands, the SFWU says there is no guarantee that Air NZ will not go ahead and outsource at a later date.

In other news, Air NZ announced plans last week to outsource its finance operations to India. The change in plans is a result of the Fijian coup.

ENDS

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