Possible Air New Zealand strike Dec21

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sbiddle

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#2144280 12-Dec-2018 16:11

tehgerbil:

They're not supplying better service to the customer, they're not giving more money to their staff, they're taking away money from their staff to bolster their profit.

They are giving are money to their staff. Air NZ staff have received bonuses over the past 3 years of $2600 in 2016, $1700 in 2017 and $1800 in 2018.

The people being hard done by are the high value customers - Air NZ cost cutting in recent years has seen some cutbacks in service as they focused of their profits before customers mentality, and the fact they don't even offer Elite Gifts at Xmas any longer is IMHO a terrible approach to customer loyalty.. Spend a minimum of $15k per year with them and they dodn't even give you a free bottle of wine any longer.

sdav

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#2144502 12-Dec-2018 20:41

sbiddle:

kiwifidget:

@stinger thank you. I can see how that works for domestic. Unfortunately I dont think there are many trans-Tasman or trans-Pacific buses.

The simple reality is you're going to scr*wed. Many flights over those days and many on the 24th will be full. There simply would not be the spare capacity to get many of the people who would be affected by cancelled flights to their destination before Xmas.

In such a case you'd receive a full refund, and nothing else. You would have to check what your travel insurance may cover you for in the case of consequential losses.

There has been no strike action in recent years (or even decades) that comes anywhere close to causing the disruption that this would cause. You'd need to go back to the '80s when Cook Strait ferries went on strike at Xmas, but even then the total numbers of people affected is minimal in comparison to this.

That's not true. AvSec threatened to strike in 2016 or something. That would have affected all flights, not just AirNZ.

I rarely take sides in industrial action because the media half-arses both sides and the negotiations are always far more involved than ever gets reported.

I support strike action though. It's the only thing a worker has left since individual negotiation for salaried staff in large organisations is generally a joke unless you are senior management or above. It's why individual employment agreements are identical to collective employment agreements, because unions have made (or unfortunately, more recently, fought to keep) the gains.

Batman

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#2144531 12-Dec-2018 22:22

"strike is lifted, agreement reached, pending vote"

Aredwood

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#2144542 12-Dec-2018 23:04

A lot depends on how much staff who work for overseas airlines get paid. As unfortunately international air travel is a commodity. Travellers are very price sensitive. And AirNZ has to compete against airlines based in 3rd world countries, who pay their staff 3rd world wages, and which often have government support.

It's all very well to say that they are making large profits now, so why can't they pay more? But a smart company will always look long term, and consider long term market changes. If you don't do that, you will become the next Sky TV, Blockbuster Video, General Motors etc.

Sure, It would be nice if staff could always be given large pay rises each year, along with other benefits. But you can't ignore long term market changes forever. Any staff who don't like the new rates. Always have the option of taking advantage of the current low unemployment rates, and get new jobs elsewhere. Far better than your employer going bankrupt in the middle of a recession. And you then find yourself competing against your former coworkers for whatever work is still available in your industry.

Comparisons to Teachers, Nurses, Avsec etc is pointless. As the government can always raise taxes if needed to fund wage increases. International airlines can't do the same.

kiwifidget

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#2144543 12-Dec-2018 23:09

Can I tell my mum she can stop crying now?

Delete cookies?! Are you insane?!

Aredwood

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#2144553 13-Dec-2018 00:47

Glad that the strike has been called off. (wrote my previous post before seeing Batmans post).

However, the engineering division is definitely going to be outsourced or sold off in the next few years. It has been slated for closure at least once before. And that land at Auckland Airport which is occupied by the engineering division keeps on going up in value.

The threatened strike has almost certainly resulted in cutbacks in future engineering work from other airlines. Which in turn will hasten the closure.

People will complain when it closes. But to keep it open would be an indirect government subsidy. Good luck trying to get the Green party to agree to a subsidy to a company that is one of the largest carbon dioxide emitters in NZ. (Although you never know what crazy things the Green party might do).

amiga500

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#2144575 13-Dec-2018 06:21

Good decision for their international business. Everyone attempts to avoid strike prone airlines. I've had two perfectly good flights on Air France, but only because I was tired at the time I was booking flights, and didn't realise they were code shares with Qantas.

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Technofreak

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#2145184 14-Dec-2018 09:21

Aredwood: Glad that the strike has been called off. (wrote my previous post before seeing Batmans post).

However, the engineering division is definitely going to be outsourced or sold off in the next few years. It has been slated for closure at least once before. And that land at Auckland Airport which is occupied by the engineering division keeps on going up in value.

The threatened strike has almost certainly resulted in cutbacks in future engineering work from other airlines. Which in turn will hasten the closure.

People will complain when it closes. But to keep it open would be an indirect government subsidy. Good luck trying to get the Green party to agree to a subsidy to a company that is one of the largest carbon dioxide emitters in NZ. (Although you never know what crazy things the Green party might do).

I don't think you know what you're talking about when you say the engineering division has been slated for closure before.

The heavy maintenance has already gone off shore, and the engineering base was downsized then. There's only so much work that can be sent off shore and while it's possible there may be more down sizing I very much doubt the engineering work will disappear from Auckland. Total Outsourcing/selling off? Anything is possible but I'd say unlikely, as this is a critical part of any airlines operation and they ideally need direct control over it. Either way I don't see the work moving from Auckland. May be a different company but same workforce. Aircraft engineers aren't exactly that thick on the ground anywhere in the world.

I don't see how this will affect work coming in from other airlines. There are plenty of bigger factors which will determine what oversees work comes in.

To comment on one of your earlier posts. I understand part of the dispute was based on Air New Zealand having already settled a contract for another work group but wouldn't agree to equivalent pay rate increases for this group. Apparently the Air New Zealand negotiators either didn't bother turning up to scheduled negotiation meetings or turned up late. The workers had to find a way to focus the companies attention, hence the notice of strike action just before Christmas.

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