31 March 2009

Media Release

Air New Zealand Welcomes Andrew Little Involvement in Negotiations

Air New Zealand today welcomed EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little’s involvement in mediation to try and settle the Zeal cabin crew dispute.

Group General Manager Short Haul Airlines Bruce Parton says Mr Little has proven in the past he is a pragmatic and motivated negotiator who get deals done.

“We are confident he has come to the mediation table with the aim of negotiating a commercially viable deal that reflects the needs of Air New Zealand and his members,” says Mr Parton.

Zeal flight attendants represented by the EPMU recently voted to reject the company offer of a 4.5% pay increase for 15 months. The EPMU is seeking base salary increases of up to 26% and allowance increases of 70%.

Under the offer now rejected by the EPMU, a new entrant Zeal flight attendant, who works 30 hours per week and a nine-day fortnight, would earn $41,000 per annum including generous performance incentives. More senior attendants would earn up to $60,000 per annum.

Meantime, in response to media enquiries, Mr Parton has clarified how Air New Zealand aims to maintain its full schedule over Easter, despite the planned strike action by Zeal cabin crew.

“We have around 100 fully qualified Air New Zealand staff, many of whom have volunteered, to operate as cabin crew to cover the Zeal roster in the lead up to Easter.

“As a result, we expect to be able to operate all services with no disruption to customers’ travel plans.”

Mr Parton also dismissed speculation that advertisements in weekend newspapers for cabin crew were designed to recruit staff to cover the Easter period.

“Simply, it takes a couple of months to get a cabin crew member trained and fully operating.  The ads were unrelated to the Easter strike and are part of a project to consider longer-term options to provide surety of service to our customers.

“We have asked Hudson Managed Services to seek expressions of interest as a means for them to evaluate a business case of possibly providing a crew resource for our operations in the future should that be necessary.

“With three strike notices in place from the EPMU, two for indefinite periods and one for a full withdrawal of labour, it is sound business practice to evaluate all options for the long-term sustainability of the operation,” says Mr Parton.

Ends

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