Source: Radio New Zealand
Strike action weeks before Christmas has been withdrawn. Supplied/ Air NZ
More than 400 Air New Zealand staff will no longer striking a week out from Christmas, after reaching an “agreement in principle” with the company.
The airline’s short-haul cabin crews, who work on domestic flights, as well as flights across the Tasman and Pacific, were originally planning to strike on 18 December over pay and conditions.
Unions have been negotiating with Air New Zealand since April.
E tū assistant national secretary Rachel Mackintosh said they decided to pull the strike yesterday, after reaching an agreement with the airline.
She said the deal for short-haul cabin crew was “close enough” to being finalised for them to call off the strike.
Mackintosh said some wording still needed to be finalised over the coming week.
Air New Zealand chief people officer Nikki Dines said it was pleased that disruptions to customers over the Christmas period had been avoided.
“Our negotiating teams have been working hard to reach an outcome that recognises the vital role our cabin crew play, while supporting the long-term health of the airline,” she said.
The union had negotiated with Air NZ since April and said its members would walk off the job around Christmas time, if they couldn’t reach an agreement with the airline.
Mackintosh previously said crews did not want to cause disruption for passengers, but that was the only tool left for them, when negotiations failed.
“This work is important and these crew are essential to the transport system of our country, to making sure that people in New Zealand can get where they need to go,” she said. “They should have decent work conditions to be able to deliver that service.”
A strike planned for 8 December had also been called off a few days before.
At the time, Dines said discussions with E tū were constructive and progressing well.
“We’re hopeful we’ll reach agreement and have all bargains in a position for our cabin crew to vote as soon as possible,” she said. “Bargaining at this scale inevitably creates pressure and uncertainty, and we acknowledge the impact this period has had across our cabin crew and wider operation.”
The airline originally estimated that strikes across all of its fleets could affect somewhere between 10-15,000 customers.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
