Strike wave threatens

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

About 1000 Air New Zealand long-haul flight attendants are threatening to stage a wave of strikes next month, after the airline withdrew from negotiations over rest breaks.

The Flight Attendants and Related Services Association said yesterday that it had decided to serve notices on the airline of several strikes from February 3.

Union executive director Terry Law said these would be a variety of one and two-day strikes, but he did not give a number.

His members, who include all but about 200 of the airline's international long-haul attendants, forced the cancellation of some flights and delays to others to Asia, the Pacific and Australia during two 14-hour strikes in November. They are seeking full-day breaks after all 13-hour flights to Los Angeles, which are to be boosted from 14 to 17 a week in April in response to heavy tourism demand and the withdrawal of United Airlines.

Mr Law said the airline had gone some way towards addressing the attendants' concerns by offering to provide day-breaks after seven of those flights, "but it doesn't go far enough".

The airline won an injunction from the Employment Court against a proposed third strike, before Christmas, because defects were found in a required 14 days' notice of industrial action in an essential industry. It failed to gain a similar injunction to force attendants to remove badges advertising their cause, but they have since done so voluntarily.

Airline spokeswoman Rosie Paul would not comment yesterday on its readiness to cope with the latest extended threat, saying there was nothing to respond to until the airline received a strike notice.

But human resources vice-president Andrew Boyd told the court last month in successfully opposing a 12-hour strike on December 11 that he feared considerable disruption and losses both in economic terms and to Air New Zealand's reputation.

The union and airline have been trying for almost a year to renew two collective agreements, for attendants and for in-flight service directors, and Air New Zealand says it withdrew from bargaining after making several spurned offers in a sincere effort to reach agreement.