Workers threaten Air NZ's services

Air New Zealand ground staff are threatening a strike that their union says would seriously disrupt flight operations.

Four hundred Air NZ ground staff belonging to the Service and Food Workers Union yesterday voted by a 98 per cent margin to support strike action.

Union advocate Alastair Duncan said the vote came after "five months of frustrating negotiations during which Air NZ management have sought to tear up the current [employment] agreement".

He said a strike would impact on both international and domestic services along with reservations, finance and cargo.

The union, which represents 500 Air NZ ground staff, mainly in Auckland, had asked for a 6 per cent pay raise for members.

Staff rejected a 3 per cent offer from the company because it was "tied to a list of associated clawbacks," Mr Duncan said.

Air NZ wanted to replace the present collective agreement for ground staff with four separate agreements for airport, cargo, reservation and administrative staff, he said.

"Management is playing the same old tired game of divide and conquer."

Part-time workers' right to overtime would also be cut.

The union is required to give 14 days' notice of industrial action.

Mr Duncan would not say when the notice would be issued but said it was "highly likely" to be before the end of the week.

If a strike went ahead, it would be the first time in 20 years that ground staff had taken such action.

Air New Zealand spokesman Glen Sowry said the company was aware of the plans for industrial action, but would not comment on the scale of possible disruptions until strike notice was received. "We're not prepared to speculate on that."

He said the company would continue to negotiate in good faith to try to reach a settlement.

- NZPA and JULIET ROWAN