KEY POINTS:
Air New Zealand ground service workers, belonging to the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, have accepted a deal to stop their jobs being outsourced overseas.
Union officials have described the settlement making the best of a bad situation and are pursuing a parliamentary inquiry into the airline's behaviour.
The EPMU announced at a press conference today that 77.8 per cent of workers who voted in the ballot had agreed to take the settlement which would see the airline not out-source its passenger and baggage handling check-in services to Spanish company Swissport.
The agreement does not extend to members of the Service Workers Union, who rejected the settlement.
The agreement means about 300 workers will lose their jobs.
About 1700 staff had been locked in employment negotiations with Air New Zealand since it announced its out-sourcing plan last year.
The company said out-sourcing the work would save it $100 million over five years.
The airline said it had been losing key contracts due to its lack of competitiveness, and it planned to out-source the work if staff did not agree to labour reforms.
The EPMU said last month a settlement with Air NZ had been reached which would be put to its members this week.
Under the deal announced today, staff will have to accept pay cuts.
The deal offers a $1000 lump sum to all employees who accept the settlement; to pay an additional $3000 payment to those who are eligible for redundancy but choose to stay; and incorporates voluntary redundancy for eligible staff.
Employees who are entitled to take redundancy have until June to decide.
EPMU national secretary Andrew Little said the impact of this package on EPMU members would be financially good for some and financially bad for others.
For all airport services staff it would mean certainty the work would stay in-house in Air NZ, however getting to that point had been a herculean struggle for the union and its members, he said.
"This was never our deal. Air New Zealand came to us with threats of contracting out and did so in a way that meant members had no bargaining power.
"We've done the best we can in the circumstances and we are now planning to petition the government for an inquiry into the airline's sharp practice."
While one favourable outcome was that these jobs had been kept in-house, the union would be looking to make sure that this situation could not happen again, he said.
"We believe that Air New Zealand's conduct in relation to its airport services workers and, 15 months ago, in relation to its engineering workers, needs to be investigated by Parliament.
"To this end, we have commenced a petition to Parliament amongst Air New Zealand employees."
Mr Little said about 800 Air New Zealand workers had signed a petition for an inquiry and more signatures were being collected.
The petition would be presented to Parliament on May 17 as part of an international day of action in support of aviation workers.
The acceptance of the settlement ends negotiations that have dragged on for a year after the airline management said it wanted to renegotiate parts of the existing collective agreement last year.
In October the airline tabled a proposal to contract out the airport services business, indicating it had a bid from the Spanish company, Swissport, which would save the airline $20m a year.
After long negotiations and court-ordered mediation, agreement was reached last month.
Mr Little said the union had been in an impossible position from the outset.
"By the time we took the package out to our members for a vote we were satisfied that what was on the table was better than what would have or could have been available had the work been contracted out to Swissport."
Mr Little said the situation raised obvious questions about the operation of good faith in employment law.
Air NZ
Air New Zealand general manager domestic airline Bruce Parton said the airline was pleased it was retaining the airport services work in-house.
"We made it extremely clear to staff and their union representatives at the start of this process that our preferred outcome was an in-house solution.
"It is great to have achieved that goal despite the SFWU's opposition to the in-house solution and many hurdles being placed in our way, such as court cases and protracted negotiations."
The services and experiences airlines offered customers in the airport environment would be the next frontier of competition over the coming years, he said.
The flexibility and savings the airline would achieve in airport services would be on par with the gains the airline would have made through outsourcing, he said.
Management attention would now shift to implementing the in-house solution and ensuring a solid long-term future for airport services, he said.
"We will work with staff to transition from the old contract to the new contract, the selection and appointment to new frontline management roles and the redundancy process for those choosing to exit the business."
Mr Parton said while the review of airport services had been underway Air New Zealand has allowed staff numbers in the division to decrease through attrition.
As a result the airline would start a recruitment drive to bolster numbers and provide flexibility as the airline implemented new training and development initiatives for airport staff, he said.
- NZPA
