Air New Zealand Disappointed by EPMU Petition Plan
Air New Zealand Limited | Jun. 12, 2007
On June 12, Air New Zealand expressed disappointment at EPMU plans to deliver a petition to Parliament on June 13.
Group General Manager People Vanessa Stoddart says the EPMU petition is nothing more than a publicity stunt and signals the union's continuing preference to put more effort into its PR plan than working constructively with Air New Zealand for the betterment of the airline's people and the national flag carrier.
"We understand from media reports that the EPMU intends to invite Parliament to enquire into certain aspects of Air New Zealand's management and in particular the approach taken to engaging with staff and unions to pursue changes to terms and conditions of employment during the term of collective employment agreements," Ms Stoddart says.
The EPMU originally announced that it would present a petition on May 17 and Air New Zealand believes this was delayed because of lack of support.
"This petition is extremely disappointing given that the approach taken by Air New Zealand has been based strictly on the agreed processes and procedures which have been negotiated with the unions over the years and are enshrined in the relevant Collective Employment Agreements."
Ms Stoddart says the trigger for the EPMU petition appears to be the recent restructuring of the airline's Airport Services division, which was the subject of extensive legal challenges by the union.
"These only served to create lengthy uncertainty for a significant workforce. It took almost two years to get the EPMU to accept that Airport Services was in need of significant change to ensure 1800 jobs were not outsourced.
"At almost every step on the journey to an in-house solution Air New Zealand was met with obstacles placed in its path by the EPMU. The obstacles saw the formal 58-day consultation process set out in the Collective Agreements the union had sought stretch out to almost six months (169 days)."
Ms Stoddart says that given each day that went by without change in Airport Services cost NZ$30,000, the total impact of the 111 day delay to the decision caused by the extensions in the 58-day process was around NZ$3.3 million.
Ms Stoddart says it is extremely disappointing that the EPMU is now seeking to re-litigate substantially the same issues in a new forum, particularly since the airline reached an agreement with the union and has now moved on.
"But of greater concern is the clearly demonstrated threat that the EPMU"s tactics represent to the competitiveness of New Zealand and Air New Zealand. As a small geographically remote nation, we must be fast, we must be nimble, flexible, innovative, highly productive and adaptable. We would encourage the EPMU to work more constructively with Air New Zealand for the betterment of the nation in future. The fortunes of Air New Zealand and New Zealand are inextricably linked."