February 13, 2006

Media Release

Air NZ trialling cabin crew as cleaners

Air New Zealand is considering making cabin crew do the work of aircraft cleaners, says the country’s largest union.

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union is mounting a legal challenge to Air New Zealand’s plans to contract out aircraft cleaning, saying that the move is a breach of the workers’ collective employment agreement.

The union’s national secretary, Andrew Little, said that he had learnt today that Air New Zealand had been trialling using cabin crew to clean aircraft between flights.

“Is there no end to Air New Zealand’s penny-pinching?” he said.

“Air New Zealand has a group of hard-working, dedicated and loyal cleaners, who have gone to great efforts to try and meet the company’s demands. We are extremely disappointed with today’s announcement that the airline intends going ahead with out-sourcing, and we are vigorously pursuing a legal challenge.”

ENDS