Qantas staff face long wait for pay

By ANNE BESTON and ANGELA GREGORY

Tearful and angry Qantas New Zealand staff learned yesterday that they may have to wait months for money the failed airline owes them.

Receiver Michael Stiassny told them they would get owed holiday pay and wages up to a maximum of $6000, at a meeting at Auckland Airport organised by the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union.

But union national secretary Andrew Little said it could be months before the workers got the money.

Reporters were locked out of the meeting after receivers indicated that they would be reluctant to talk on camera, Mr Little said.

The meeting stayed closed to journalists after the receivers left.

Some non-union staff said they had been barred from attending, but Mr Little said that all Qantas employees had been told they were welcome.

Afterwards, workers spilling out of the meeting said there were few surprises and very little good news.

They were told their superannuation funds were secure and would probably be available in the next few weeks.

Some were angry with the businessmen shareholders of Tasman Pacific, the company that had been flying as Qantas NZ for less than a year.

The consortium of wealthy businessmen includes Aucklanders Alan Gibbs, Ian Hendry, Chris Coon and Trevor Farmer, and Dunedin's Sir Clifford Skeggs.

"There are smug shareholders out there who are comfortable but who've left staff to bear the brunt of this. It sucks," said 33-year-old check-in operator Leanne Leonard, who had been with the company for eight years.

Mr Little said the more than 200 staff who attended the meeting were looking for answers from the directors of the failed company.

"There was a real sense that they want the directors or shareholding businessmen called to account at some point, to find out what happened and why.

"There was quite a lot of anger about that."

Michelle Penn, services delivery standards manager for the failed airline, said she was owed $15,000 but did not expect to get it.

"I have basically decided I will have to write it off," said the 35-year-old, who is 38 weeks pregnant.

One man, whose wife also works for the company, said restructuring and replacing experienced staff with "people off the street" had contributed to the company's collapse.

Staff were given advice by Department of Work and Income staff at the meeting.

They also put their names and positions on a piece of paper to be delivered to Air New Zealand - in case there were any jobs available.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton was asking yesterday whether the directors of Tasman Pacific knew the company was virtually insolvent but kept trading.

If they had continued trading, they would be liable to creditors under the Companies Act.

"They can't trade when they know they are losing money, and they are not going to be able to recover and are going to have to stop."

Mr Anderton said that while he did not know what the case was with Tasman Pacific, he was concerned that often companies did not stop trading when they should.

Angry Qantas NZ pilots the Herald spoke to have demanded that the directors and senior management account for themselves.

Despite repeated requests by the Herald, Tasman Pacific shareholders refused to comment.

Major shareholder Trevor Farmer referred the newspaper to his Tappenden Holdings as he said he was not sure what was going on.

"We have investments everywhere."

Asked to comment on Mr Anderton's concerns, he replied, "I have no comment," and hung up.

A woman who answered the phone at Tappenden Holdings said no one there had any comment to make about the Tasman Pacific receivership.

Sir Clifford, whose Skeggs Group had a 25 per cent shareholding, told the Herald on Monday that he would not comment on the collapse as he had not been actively involved.

Most other major shareholders ignored the Herald's calls, although Greg Lancaster, a minor shareholder, said he was disappointed at the crash.

Mr Lancaster said he had had no contact from the company about the collapse and was "a little disappointed" as he thought Tasman Pacific had been performing better.

An Auckland lawyer specialising in insolvency law, Mike Whale, confirmed that directors had statutory duties under the Companies Act.

They were not to incur obligations that they did not believe the company would be able to meet, and place creditors at substantial risk of serious loss.

Mr Whale said that while in some circumstances directors were entitled to delegate duties to senior management, they still had a duty to monitor company performance.

If it was found that directors had breached their duties, a court could require the company to compensate creditors for their losses.

That would be for liquidators to investigate, and Mr Whale expected Tasman Pacific would be placed in liquidation at the request of the major creditors.

While it was not normal practice for the directors and senior management of collapsed companies to speak publicly, Mr Whale said they often at least fronted up to staff to explain the reasons for receivership.

"This is normally done pretty soon after the event."

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