KEY POINTS:
Air New Zealand has defended the employment terms and conditions of its Shanghai-based cabin crew and attacked the man who described them as "a flying sweat shop".
Former immigration minister Tuariki John Delamere said the state airline was paying Chinese flight attendants on Auckland-Shanghai services little more than a quarter of their New Zealand colleagues' wages.
But the airline said today Mr Delamere was wrong.
"It is disappointing that the comments of one disgruntled former crew member and a publicity-seeking immigration consultant have been given any credibility," said the airline's group general manager international, Ed Sims.
The airline said its Shanghai crew base was set up in 2006 with 64 staff to provide a crew to meet the needs of its customers.
"Ninety per cent of our customers on the Auckland-Shanghai route are Mandarin speaking and we felt it was essential the majority of our crew could communicate in Mandarin with our customers."
Mr Sims said all foreign airlines were required by law to work through a government agency when recruiting both cabin crew and ground staff in China.
Air New Zealand used the services of government agency Fasco (Foreign Aviation Service Corporation) which was also used by a number of international airlines including Virgin Atlantic, KLM and Northwest Airlines.
"Salaries and terms and conditions are agreed in conjunction with this agency and are in line with the other airlines operating Shanghai crew bases," he said.
"The salaries reflect local market relativities, as do the salaries for all our staff in off-shore locations like our crew base in London or staff in locations including Japan, USA and Australia."
The total gross annual employment cost of a cabin crew member in Shanghai was the equivalent of $46,000 per annum. This included a base salary, a range of allowances and benefits and social security payments.
"Contrary to media reports of a meal allowance of $55 per day, the meal allowance per day is up to $120, with an additional tax-free daily allowance of $55 for supplementary costs," Mr Sims said.
"While in Auckland, the cabin crew stay at a central-city four star hotel with access to 24-hour room service and the choice of two restaurants from which to dine.
"The airline is currently introducing a credit card process to enable crew to dine at any establishment they wish up to the $120 meal allowance per day. The time spent in Auckland on layover ranges from 36 hours to four days," Mr Sims said.
The package of approximately $3160 gross per month (exclusive of social security payments) compared with the average monthly wage of urban Chinese workers of $325.
"This package is in line with comparable New Zealand-based cabin crew who have a total employment cost of approximately $58,000.
"While Shanghai crew have a lower base salary, they only fly an average 72 per cent of the flying hours of an Auckland-based crew member," Mr Sims said.
A Shanghai-based crew member works an average 14 days of a 28 day roster. They average 2.5 return flights Shanghai-Auckland per roster.
Yesterday Prime Minister Helen Clark said the airline was paying the going rate for Chinese crew working the route to Shanghai in the same way it would pay a different rate for British flight crew based in London.
Labour Minister Trevor Mallard has asked the Department of Labour to look into pay disparities between Air New Zealand staff based in China and here.
- NZPA
