Axe raised over 100 Air NZ finance staff

Jill Ovens

Nearly 100 people in Air New Zealand's finance department face losing their jobs if a proposal put to the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) goes ahead.

The company was also considering contracting out much of its ground work, affecting up to 1000 staff, the union said last night.

Air NZ spokesman David Jamieson said the company was reviewing all parts of the airline that "didn't perform to world standards".

As part of that review, a proposal had been written up on jobs in financial shared services, part of the finance department. Under that proposal the number of positions would be reduced by 97.

"Twenty-six of those positions will be disestablished and they are white- collar assistant accountants who won't have any problem finding work in the account market. The balance of those jobs we are proposing to outsource overseas."

Mr Jamieson said Air NZ had had financial operations in Fiji for close to 10 years, and there was a good chance the outsourced jobs could go there, too, if the proposal went ahead.

He said no proposal had been put forward on the 1700 ground staff including check-in staff and baggage-loaders. "We are still reviewing that."

The SFWU said Air NZ had engaged it and the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) to find a "competitive in-house solution" to avoid tendering out work performed by all ground staff.

SFWU northern region secretary Jill Ovens said the two processes followed attempts to outsource the company's heavy engineering services - avoided by staff agreeing to cuts in numbers and reductions in conditions.

"The latest moves appear to be part of a general plan to divest itself of its employees and operations, possibly to make the 80 per cent publicly owned Air NZ shares more attractive to private buyers," she said.

Those left in the finance department would be training the staff of the outsource provider who, would be based offshore, most likely in Fiji where clerical workers were paid as little as $6000 a year, Ms Ovens said. Other possibilities included India or the Philippines.

She said Air NZ management had informed the union it had a strategic objective to reduce costs.