Smarting Qantas NZ flight attendant wants last pay

By ANGELA GREGORY

Evelyn Butler has been told to hand back her Qantas New Zealand flight attendant's uniform.

But the defiant 27-year-old says she would like a little matter seen to first. "I want to be paid for my last week's work and my holiday pay."

The Aucklander was to have donned her uniform for a 6 am start on Saturday.

But she was woken by a 4.30 am telephone call from Christchurch saying that she and her partner, also a flight attendant, had lost their jobs.

"I had had a bad feeling on Friday when my partner came home and said there was no catering on the plane. I thought, 'Oh dear,' and when I heard that telephone ringing I knew the news was not going to be good."

As a union representative for the Flight Attendants and Related Services Association, Evelyn Butler moved quickly to spread the news among colleagues.

By that evening the company had still left some crew in the dark.

Evelyn Butler said the 50 or so flight attendants based in Auckland gathered on Saturday for mutual support.

"We are very close, like a family. There was shock; a lot of people were in tears. Many have children and mortgages."

Just last week Evelyn Butler was swotting for her annual revalidation exams at her small Epsom flat.

She now rues turning down a place this year on a sought-after three-year communications course at polytechnic.

"This was going to be my year for saving to study next year instead."

Now she faces a significant drop in income - the hospitality industry is her most likely job source.

Base rates for flight attendants start at $28,000 but can rise to $50,000 with experience and overtime.

Like other staff contacted by the Herald, Evelyn Butler blames bad management and the five-week lockout of Ansett pilots in 1999 as big contributors to Qantas NZ's financial mess.