Air NZ dispute a case of ‘who blinks first’
Air New Zealand, its engineer workers and their unions will be wanting to avoid a three-day strike planned for the lead-up to Christmas, an industrial relations expert says.
Air New Zealand is in its third day of negotiations with unions E tu¯ and the Aviation and Marine Engineers Association (AMEA) to try to resolve an employment dispute relating to aircraft maintenance and logistics workers.
The unions have served two sets of strike notices covering December 21, 22 and 23, three of the busiest days of the year for travel.
University of Otago Professor Alan Geare said the unions would have chosen these days to inflict maximum damage to the airline.
‘‘From the engineers’ point of view they need to threaten to strike when it will really hurt,’’ Geare said.
‘‘If you are using strikes as a negotiating tool they have to be effective.’’
The unions and engineer workers would be wanting to avoid industrial action, because if a strike did go ahead they would lose public sympathy, he said.
Similarly, Air New Zealand would want to avoid coming across as an unreasonable employer, he said. ‘‘It’s possible that both parties know exactly what’s going on and they are playing a game of who blinks first.’’
Even the Government would not want the strike to go ahead because it would reflect badly on the coalition partners, he said.
‘‘There will be an awful lot of illfeeling if the strike goes ahead.’’
‘‘There will be an awful lot of illfeeling if the strike goes ahead.’’ Professor Alan Geare