Kerre Woodham: Cabin crews striking out

Threatening strike action before Easter will muck up Kiwis' travel plans. Photo / Supplied

As a child I never missed a night saying my prayers in the weeks leading up to Easter. I was also pretty assiduous in the weeks leading up to Christmas, too. Not out of any sense of religious fervour. It was more along the lines of "God bless Mum and Dad, God bless my brother, please look after Freddy the cat who's getting old and please don't let the ferry workers go on strike."

Dad was a transplanted true blue from Godzone, a dyed-in-the-wool Cantabrian living in the north, so we were required to make regular family pilgrimages down south.

Not that we minded - it was great fun, eating the peas from Poppa Joe's garden and sneaking sly sips of the home brew he and Mr Weepiana from next door always had on the go.

And the buckets of whitebait - magic stuff. But every year, as regular as clockwork, the Seafarers Union said they would be going on strike at Easter. Or Christmas.

It was all out, brothers and sisters, and to hell with the travellers who were left in limbo wondering if they would ever get to their destination.

It created quite a bit of tension in our family and it's a wonder I didn't become a Tory from childhood, as union president Dave Morgan's parentage was questioned and the union members damned.

Most times the strike was cancelled and off we went and a good time was had by all. That's one aspect of the good old days I'm glad to see gone - the unions holding the country to ransom over pay claims.

But it was back to the future this week, with the Zeal crew announcing industrial action over the Easter break. Zeal is a wholly owned subsidiary of Air New Zealand and consists of flight attendants who were initially hired to work the old Freedom Air flights.

The Zeal staff were paid less and had fewer allowances because they were working a budget operation - nuts and cola, as opposed to full-meal service.

When Freedom was taken over by Air New Zealand, the flight attendants were given jobs on Air New Zealand's domestic and transtasman routes - but their contracts stayed the same. When the contracts ran out, the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union stepped in to negotiate parity with other Air New Zealand attendants doing the same job - and that's when the trouble started.

Not surprisingly in a time of major recession, Air New Zealand doesn't want to pay any more than it has to. Zeal attendants say: If we're all doing the same job, why don't we get the same pay and allowances?

I'm fully in support of the flight attendants getting the same money for the same job. If the case is as the EPMU suggests, then Air New Zealand is just trying to take the piss.

And I've never been one to think that flight attendants are glorified waiters and waitresses. These men and women who fly the skies can make or break a trip and there are plenty of examples of cabin crew going the extra distance for their passengers.

But mucking up New Zealanders' travel plans is a public relations disaster. People fly, for the most part, because they have no choice. Many people have saved for months to be able to take a family holiday. They've applied for annual leave. They've organised friends to mind the house and the kennels to take the dog.

To turn around a couple of weeks before Easter and threaten strike action will not get the public on your side.

It's not as though people have other options. If they can't fly, their plans are ruined - and for the union to claim their members have no other choice but industrial action is just nonsense. I'm glad the strike has been called off - but the union isn't winning many friends with its dressing up tactics. My callers think the sticker-wearing and the boas and the wigs are silly and unprofessional. I suppose the crew could work to rule - not do any more than they were paid to do previously.

Toss out a few bags of nuts and some cans of cola but, again, that's not going to get the travelling public onside. It's not a good look for either side but the return of 1970s union tactics is as unwelcome as the return of the pantsuit.