Air NZ CEO Rob Fyfe told staff last week in a memo [Friday 2nd February] that it was costing Air NZ $30,000 dollars a day for each day that goes by without a decision to contract-out the jobs of approximately 1700 of its ground-handling staff.
 
Service and Food Workers Union Northern Regional Secretary Jill Ovens says the unions never asked the company to investigate the contracting-out of these jobs and they resent the implication contained in the email that the cost of the exercise is somehow their fault.
 
"Fyfe uses euphemistic language about 'the customer experience' and 'creating a more competitive and fulfilling travel experience' when in reality he's asking these workers to take a massive pay cut," she says.
 
Ground-handling staff are covered by Collective Agreements that Air NZ has with both the SFWU and Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) and these CEAs are still in force through to June 30 2007.
 
However, Air NZ has been pressuring unions since May 2006 to make concessions on their employment terms and conditions, including roster changes and cutbacks on penal rates and allowances.
 
SFWU members have said they are prepared to negotiate when the CEA comes up for renewal - and not before.
 
"Air NZ is using the threat of outsourcing to hold a gun to our head at a time when our members can't take industrial action," 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 has been rejected by management because SFWU members did not give their union a mandate to give away terms and conditions, Ms Ovens says.
 
The EPMU put in its own alternative proposal and negotiated 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. Agreement had to be reached by January 26 with ratification meetings completed by February 7 to avoid further Court action over the outsourcing proposal.
 
But any agreement also had to be ratified by SFWU members, or the airline said it would go ahead with the outsourcing. No agreement was put to SFWU members.
"Our members see the threat of outsourcing as a cynical ploy by Air NZ management to extract terms and conditions from workers at a time when they can't take action to prevent it.
 
"They also think this whole exercise has more to do with raising the share price of Air NZ than anything else. We certainly don't buy the argument that Air NZ is facing a financial crisis. The pre-tax profit last year was $148 million and it is expected to be $206 million in 2007."
 
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 and the whole concept of conditions remaining intact until time for renegotiation on expiry becomes meaningless.
 
END
 
For further information:
 
Jill Ovens
Northern Regional Secretary
SFWU Nga Ringa Tota
 
(027) 446 4966
(09) 375 2691 (direct line)
(09) 276 9433 (home)