Crew Drinking on Flights

Forums › Off topic › Crew Drinking on Flights - Why!?

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#1201453 21-Dec-2014 12:32

gzt: If that is true then the inaccuracy of this piece is shocking and NZH should take it down immediately.

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#1201460 21-Dec-2014 12:55

Yeah, this occurred to me about 30 seconds after posting. Sigh.

sbiddle

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#1201465 21-Dec-2014 13:12

gzt:
sbiddle: My understanding of the July issue at the time was that a passenger who were on the delayed flight saw crew members who they recognised from their flight out socialising and complained to the NZ Herald about this who then wrote a headline story about this. This apparently wasn't the crew that was on duty and none were in uniform.

If that is true then the inaccuracy of this piece is shocking and NZH should take it down immediately for legal reasons if nothing else.

The original story has been online now for 6 months, that would have given Air NZ plenty of time to get the story retracted if they wanted.

Then again what I posted is simply what I was told at the time, it could well be that my source was incorrect.

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#1201467 21-Dec-2014 13:32

Handle9:
Geektastic: I agree - my immediate reaction was why not have a zero tolerance policy. Kiwi Rail do - and they apply it across the board to all the office staff as well as operational staff. They have random drug and alcohol testing and failing either will result in dismissal.

It's all very well to have zero tolerance for drug and alchohol policy for office staff but the reality is you are unable to randomly test for staff who are not in positions deemed 'safety sensitive'. The case law is very clear. You can test for cause though.

You can because you make it a condition in their employment contracts which is what Kiwi Rail do.

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#1201472 21-Dec-2014 13:38

NZHerald: "In-flight service managers are able to breath test crew if they have reasonable cause to suspect that they have been drinking within 10 hours of operating a flight."

Geektastic

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#1201539 21-Dec-2014 16:04

gzt: NZHerald: "In-flight service managers are able to breath test crew if they have reasonable cause to suspect that they have been drinking within 10 hours of operating a flight."

So 5 bottles of vodka in hour 11 is fine, I guess?

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#1201559 21-Dec-2014 17:42

Geektastic:
Handle9:
Geektastic: I agree - my immediate reaction was why not have a zero tolerance policy. Kiwi Rail do - and they apply it across the board to all the office staff as well as operational staff. They have random drug and alcohol testing and failing either will result in dismissal.

It's all very well to have zero tolerance for drug and alchohol policy for office staff but the reality is you are unable to randomly test for staff who are not in positions deemed 'safety sensitive'. The case law is very clear. You can test for cause though.

You can because you make it a condition in their employment contracts which is what Kiwi Rail do.

Nope. The courts have been clear that it is not an enforceable condition of employment. You can put all sorts of crap in as conditions of employment that aren't actually able to be enforced.

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#1201566 21-Dec-2014 19:23

Air NZ crew (on or off-duty) probably had to drink having know the fact the average age is higher than any airline out there. Words relayed to me from an ex crew member

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#1201593 21-Dec-2014 20:38

Handle9:
Geektastic:
Handle9:
Geektastic: I agree - my immediate reaction was why not have a zero tolerance policy. Kiwi Rail do - and they apply it across the board to all the office staff as well as operational staff. They have random drug and alcohol testing and failing either will result in dismissal.

It's all very well to have zero tolerance for drug and alchohol policy for office staff but the reality is you are unable to randomly test for staff who are not in positions deemed 'safety sensitive'. The case law is very clear. You can test for cause though.

You can because you make it a condition in their employment contracts which is what Kiwi Rail do.

Nope. The courts have been clear that it is not an enforceable condition of employment. You can put all sorts of crap in as conditions of employment that aren't actually able to be enforced.

Rest assured people have been sacked because of it in KR and even the Rail union has failed to prevent it.

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#1201605 21-Dec-2014 21:11

Geektastic:

Rest assured people have been sacked because of it in KR and even the Rail union has failed to prevent it.

Yes they have failed to prevent people who are in positions who can be randomly drug tested getting reinstated. The key is the term 'safety sensitive'. You can randomly drug test people in safety sensitive positions. You can't randomly test people who aren't other than in pre-employment screening.

Rest assured that if you try and sack someone who refuses a random drug test, who is not in a safety sensitive position, you will loose in court and cost you a packet.

The case law below describes it pretty well.

http://www.findlaw.co.nz/articles/4313/drug-testing-case-example-meaning-of-safety-sensit.aspx
http://www.kensingtonswan.com/kspublicweb/media/documents/nzcn_junjul12-p33.pdf

You can test for cause though, if the drug and alcohol policy refers to it. It appears (from the media anyway) that a lot of the dismissals from Kiwi Rail are post accident investigations, where an accident are ground for cause. So are smelling like booze, seeming baked at work or other inappropriate behaviour.

Psilan

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#1201609 21-Dec-2014 21:47

I used to date a Pacific Blue flight attendant.

They all got drunk as hell on their stay-overs. Attendants and Pilots banging each other on trips, cheating on partners. It was crazy.
So many people working with hangovers when I tagged along on a few Fiji trips.

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#1201620 21-Dec-2014 22:04

Psilan: Attendants and Pilots banging each other on trips, cheating on partners. It was crazy.

I both know and have known [platonically in all cases] a number trolley-dollies and have heard of this kind of thing many times over many years. I was quietly wondering when it might get brought up here...

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#1201696 22-Dec-2014 07:14

The worse thing is they end up playing Sam Smith's "I'm not the only one" track during boarding

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#1201732 22-Dec-2014 09:02

Psilan: I used to date a Pacific Blue flight attendant.

They all got drunk as hell on their stay-overs. Attendants and Pilots banging each other on trips, cheating on partners. It was crazy.
So many people working with hangovers when I tagged along on a few Fiji trips.

eww too much information ... i ... must ... un ... read ..

freitasm

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#1201734 22-Dec-2014 09:07

It's life, Jim, but not as you know it.

The thread title should be "Crew drinking on duty" instead of "Crew drinking on flights"...

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