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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 19, 2005 11:05:15 GMT 12
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Post by corsair67 on Dec 19, 2005 13:46:47 GMT 12
Yep, a very, very sad day indeed!
Here is more from 'stuff.co.nz'.
Air NZ to sack 110 engineers
19 December 2005
Air New Zealand will make 110 engineers redundant early next year as it begins sending its wide body aircraft engines overseas for heavy maintenance.
A further 507 engineers will learn in February their future with the airline after an announcement earlier this year that more than 600 would lose their jobs because of the decision to outsource heavy maintenance work.
The airline's chief executive, Rob Fyfe, said in a statement the decision followed more than 18 months of exhaustive research and consultation with staff and union representatives.
The airline could not say when its engine shop would be closed and the 110 jobs would go, but said a decision would be made in February on the balance of 507 engineers.
The airline said 13 per cent of the 110 jobs were licensed aircraft engineers. The rest were non-licensed aircraft engineers, other trades, supervisory, planning, cleaning, administrative and clerical roles.
The airline said it already outsourced maintenance for the engines of its narrow-body jets and turboprop aircraft.
The airline said the February decision would affect the remaining 507 jobs, including about 95 licensed aircraft engineers in wide body airframe, overhead and support functions.
Mr Fyfe said neither the engine shop management nor the unions could produce a viable case for keeping the engine maintenance in New Zealand.
"The analysis has painted an extremely bleak picture. Volumes in this business are low and falling."
He said there was considerable excess in international maintenance capacity.
Sending wide body engines overseas was expected to save $53 million over five years.
He said unions accepted significant change was needed if wide body airframe maintenance was to be kept in-house.
He said the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) had put considerable effort into a solution.
"While we have not agreed on everything they have come back to us with, we have been able to find some common ground."
That could include flexible shifts, time-off in lieu and fixed-hour employee arrangements.
Mr Fyfe said the 617 staff affected were not all engineers.
"They are made up of three groups of people – it is the people in the engine shop, it is the people in the overhead and support areas and it is the people doing the wide-body airframe work."
He said the union had accepted there was no viable solution for the engine maintenance.
"They have put their efforts into the wide-body airframe maintenance.
"They have come up with a proposal that doesn't yet work for us but shows sufficient promise that we have indicated we are certainly enthusiastic to continue a dialogue to see whether the proposal. . . will work with Air New Zealand and will work with their members."
Mr Fyfe said it was possible some of the 507 remaining staff would not be made redundant but it was not known how many until the final form of the union's plan was known.
He said there was no great animosity between the union and the airline in spite of the emotion over job losses.
"For the large part this has been a very constructive process and the union is genuinely looking to make compromises to work with the company and likewise we have indicated we are prepared to be very open-minded about finding a way to keep this working in the country if at all possible."
Mr Fyfe said it was too soon to say how many jobs could be saved.
Mr Fyfe said today the airline's Christchurch engineers would not be affected and narrow-body jet engines would continue to be serviced in Christchurch.
The Auckland engine shop would close within the next few months after "one-on-one" discussions with individual engineers.
"Once we have completed those will determine when the shop actually shuts."
Mr Fyfe said the original proposal would have cost the airline about $13 million in redundancies but with the union proposal to keep some work in New Zealand and save some jobs, that had changed.
The EPMU said it was delighted the airline would seriously consider its cost-cutting proposal, which could save more jobs.
EPMU national secretary Andrew Little said it was "regrettable" Air NZ believed it needed to cut staff, but the most important aspect was that New Zealand would still have an aircraft heavy engineering operation which could be built upon in the future.
"Two months ago we were looking at the complete loss of their operation.
"This workforce has put together a credible, professional case to retain at least part of that work, and succeeded in convincing the company there are alternatives to sending all the work overseas."
Aviation and Marine Engineers' Association (AMEA) national secretary George Ryde said the unions would now be doing all they could to minimise the impact on staff.
"We have redundancy agreements in place, and we'll be looking to see whether staff who want to stay can be redeployed into other parts of the company."
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Post by atcassidy_30hobby on Dec 19, 2005 13:56:38 GMT 12
i saw that on the news this morning, my dad s department was out sourced last yr alond with a few others, air nz has a thing for always tryin to save money
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Post by Bruce on Dec 19, 2005 14:10:22 GMT 12
Merry Christmas from Air New Zealand..... from the Air NZ corporate web page: Guiding Principles We will be the customers' airline of choice when travelling to, from and within New Zealand. We will build competitive advantage in all of our businesses through the creativity and innovation of our people.We will champion and promote New Zealand and its people, culture and business at home and overseas. We will work together as a great team committed to the growth and vitality of our company and New Zealand.
Our workplaces will be fun, energising and where everyone can make a difference.sounds like a beer ad - .....YEAH RIGHT!(http://www.airnz.co.nz/aboutus/corporateprofile/default.htm) I'd boycott, but I'm already Boycotting qantas due to discriminatory seating policies and I dont have a lot of options left.... (not that I fly much anyway)  |
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Post by corsair67 on Dec 19, 2005 14:23:52 GMT 12
Speaking of beer, maybe Tui could put this up on one of their billboards.... "We will be the customers' airline of choice when travelling to, from and within New Zealand.
We will build competitive advantage in all of our businesses through the creativity and innovation of our people.We will champion and promote New Zealand and its people, culture and business at home and overseas.
We will work together as a great team committed to the growth and vitality of our company and New Zealand.
Our workplaces will be fun, energising and where everyone can make a difference."
"Yeah right!"  |
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Post by dpdouglas on Dec 19, 2005 15:31:21 GMT 12
ok well this is truely amusing but hey i thought that Air New Zealand just purchased 8 B777-200ER how the hell are they going to have them fly without staff.
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Post by dpdouglas on Dec 19, 2005 15:33:03 GMT 12
perhaps they could hire monkeys to be airline Hostesses and Hosts . it would save them alot of money all they would have to do is pay them with bananas.
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Post by atcassidy_30hobby on Dec 19, 2005 16:21:11 GMT 12
i doubt the service would be as good
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 19, 2005 17:22:27 GMT 12
Well this is no laughing matter at all, but I couldn't help taking up the challenge. If Bear or anyone ese wants to use this, feel free - just don't credit it to me! hehe  |
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Post by corsair67 on Dec 19, 2005 17:46:16 GMT 12
Lol.............that's great, Dave.
I'm going to print out a copy to pin up in my office.
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Post by atcassidy_30hobby on Dec 19, 2005 18:05:09 GMT 12
lol! thats excellent!! i think i could print it onto an iron on and put it on a shirt! ',^
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 19, 2005 18:27:45 GMT 12
You could probably sell the T-shirts at Mangere tomorrow. If you do, I want a cut, hehe
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Post by dpdouglas on Dec 19, 2005 22:03:49 GMT 12
that is very cool Dave, that would make an awesome billboard too
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Post by dpdouglas on Dec 19, 2005 22:04:27 GMT 12
especially if it was one of those billboards outside the international airport
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Post by corsair67 on Feb 21, 2006 18:39:37 GMT 12
Good to see the Union Brothers in Christchurch didn't splinter!!!! And Qantas wants to follow in Air NZ's shoes..........
(from today's The Australian)
Air NZ jobs to go offshore after workers reject deal
Steve Creedy, Aviation writer
February 21, 2006.
AIR New Zealand will proceed with plans to send heavy maintenance of its long-range aircraft overseas after workers rejected a union-brokered deal to keep the operations in the country.
As Qantas unions brace themselves for a similar ultimatum in Australia, Air NZ said an additional 507 positions at its engineering services unit would be axed and the work would go to a big operator in Europe.
The losses are in addition to 110 announced in December.
The airline had stipulated that workers in Christchurch and Auckland must support the deal.
While it was supported by Auckland-based members of both Air NZ maintenance unions, it was rejected by members of the Aviation and Marine Engineers Association based in Christchurch. Union officials said the Christchurch workers had yet to be convinced "of the radical change being asked of them to their working and family lives".
The news came as Australian engineers yesterday urged the Howard Government not to change the Qantas Sales Act when it considers its aviation policy review today.
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) warned that any decision by Qantas to move valuable jobs offshore would be a blow to Australia's skills base that could affect its defence preparedness.
Qantas has warned it could move at least 2500 widebody heavy maintenance jobs offshore unless it can get costs savings of up to 20 per cent.
"With maintenance of military aircraft increasingly contracted outside the defence force, it is important people within the country are learning the skills that can maintain Australia's defences," said ALAEA industrial manager Chris Ryan. "If the Government does not move to protect these skills the situation will be rapidly irreversible."
The ALAEA has also raised safety concerns about the quality of overseas work as well as questions about whether a move to export so many jobs could contravene sections of the Qantas Sales Act requiring the airline to keep the bulk of its operations in Australia.
Qantas argues widebody heavy maintenance is only a fraction of its operations. It has said it has no plans to move other maintenance operations overseas.
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Post by corsair67 on Feb 24, 2006 13:13:54 GMT 12
And things just keep getting better..................from www.stuff.co.nz today. At least the engineers' Unions managed to pull themselves together after last week's fiasco. By the way, how much did those stupid cabin crew uniforms cost again?  ?? Air NZ signals more redundancies 24 February 2006 A bleak Air New Zealand profit announcement this morning signalled the prospect of another 470 redundancies, outside the airline's engineering sector. Air New Zealand today announced a 55 per cent fall in first half profit as soaring fuel prices continued to dent earnings. The national carrier posted a net profit after tax of $46 million for the six months to December 31, compared with $102m a year for the same period a year earlier. Areas affected by redundancies would be marketing, financing and human resources, Air New Zealand said this morning. Members of the Aviation and Marine Engineering Association (AMEA) in Christchurch, who last week narrowly rejected the proposal, reconsidered and passed a new contract last night. The proposal, which means labour reforms and the loss of about 200 jobs, was approved by other AMEA members and another union last week. About 300 jobs will be retained and both engineering bases at Auckland and Christchurch will remain. Mr Fyfe said the airline's first priority would be to look at those workers who had chosen voluntary redundancy. The vast majority of the jobs which still needed to be reduced would be done so through voluntary redundancy, he said on National Radio this morning. The airline would now advise the company it had been talking with for the outsourcing work that the planes would no longer be sent offshore, he said. The dispute had not damaged the airline's reputation, he said. "I think people understand that the airline has to be competitive. "It's unfortunate we have had to go through this process to get the outcome but we do need to have a competitive and viable airline to further the interests of New Zealand as a whole." AMEA's national secretary George Ryde said the last four months had been difficult for members. The union had not expected 100 per cent agreement on the vote yesterday but the result in Christchurch were higher than the results last week from Auckland, he said. The suggestion that the airline would continue with reviews of all sectors was not an issue which worried the union, he said. "I don't think he (Mr Fyfe) intended to indicate there is going to be any further moves in engineering it would be crazy to do so, we've now just voted on a collective agreement which will not expire until March 2008." Any redundancies that had to be made at this point would be voluntary redundancies, he said The relationship between the airline and the union would continue to be professional regardless of the dispute, he said. |
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