August 25, 2006

Workers note Air NZ profit

Today’s $150 million profit announcement by Air New Zealand is an outstanding result in the current international aviation climate, says the union that represents many of the airline’s workers.

“The profit announcement shows that Air New Zealand is profitable, and Air New Zealand workers cannot ignore this result,” said Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union national secretary Andrew Little.

Mr Little noted the airline’s comment that it still had to make more “tough strategic, workforce and workplace decisions”, saying that Air New Zealand’s record on such matters was not good.

“This union has had to spend more than $400,000 over the past year employing advisors to counter Air New Zealand’s internal advice,” he said.

“Our advice around engineering, aircraft cleaning and baggage handling has proven correct. The fact that working people are having to fork out such huge amounts of money for business advice for Air New Zealand shows that there are still gaps in the airline’s management performance.”

Mr Little said that it was not possible to lift productivity or create a world-class workforce in the airline industry without the comprehensive input of the workforce.

ENDS

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