KEY POINTS:
A union is considering legal action after Air New Zealand announced yesterday it was closing its Christchurch call centre, with the loss of 86 jobs.
The devastated workers were told the news at a meeting in the afternoon. Air New Zealand is centralising its call centres in Auckland and expects to offer some of the Christchurch workers the opportunity to shift.
Although the closure had been proposed weeks ago, yesterday's announcement was still received with anger, said the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, which represents 69 of the workers.
"They are all having a couple of drinks and looking after each other," said union organiser Libi Carr.
"The majority walked out after the announcement, they were so angry and upset. They are professional people and did not want to lose their dignity in front of their employer."
Sheela Eyles, a worker at the Christchurch centre for almost six years, said it was a difficult pill to swallow because the workers felt they added value to the airline.
Workers would be able to find other jobs, but the company "haven't even thanked us for putting in the effort. There has been no acknowledgment."
Ms Carr said union and workers continued to question the business sense of closing the centre. Four proposals had been put to the airline to keep the centre, but all were rejected.
"We will be considering all options open to us as a union over the next few days. There is a potential legal challenge. Whether it will change the outcome we don't know, but we need to assess that carefully."
Air New Zealand said its decision followed a period of consultation with staff and consideration of staff feedback since the proposal was announced on October 12.
The decision to close the Christchurch centre was not made lightly, said group general manager Norm Thompson.
"However, the significant and increasing trend of our customers to book online has meant declining caller demand in recent years."
Call centre staff manage travel-related inquiries, quotes, reservations, ticketing and flight confirmations as well as handling changes of schedule and disruptions to flights.
Ms Carr said having to rely on two Auckland call centres 20 minutes' drive apart raised important issues. Christchurch had an experienced, stable workforce, while the Auckland centres had high turnover and recruiting and training problems.
"This is our national airline. What happens if there is a disaster and they are unable to operate the airline if Auckland goes out, if there is an electricity cut or something like that?" she said.
