Easter strike threat from Air NZ flight attendants

The striking flight attendants used to work for Air NZ's budget brand Freedom Air.

Easter holiday flight plans for thousands are threatened by looming strike action from Air NZ flight attendants.

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) says 250 of its members, who are employed by the Air NZ subsidiary "Zeal 230 Ltd", have been in talks for six months, but have been left "with no option" but to strike.

These attendants earn up to $30,000 less per year than their colleagues employed directly by Air NZ, said the union in a press statement.

Threatened strike action will affect Trans-Tasman and Pacific flights carried out by Air New Zealand's Airbus A320 fleet

"Our members at Zeal work the same jobs as Air New Zealand-employed cabin crew in the same uniform and to the same destinations onboard Air New Zealand planes. Nobody would know they were not Air New Zealand crew," said EPMU national aviation organiser Strachan Crang.

"But they are paid tens of thousands of dollars a year less than crew who work directly for Air New Zealand and over the last six months the company has made it clear they are not going to change that situation.

"Our members simply cannot afford to live on the wages the company has offered. More than a third of them are working second jobs, many of them are living off debt, and many of them cannot even afford to buy food when they are on duty overseas.

"That's why, under instruction from our members, we have taken the last option available to us and issued Air New Zealand with a strike notice."

From Saturday March 28, workers will not be following uniform policy and will be refusing to do some paperwork. From April 1, they will be "refusing standby" - meaning the company will have difficulty filling crew requirements at short notice.

From Wednesday April 8 workers will be taking full strike action. Easter Weekend begins Friday, April 10.

Read an EPMU union factsheet on the dispute here .

- HERALD ONLINE