Air New Zealand continues to negotiate with unions representing its engineers and other maintenance workers, as it now faces strike action from 21 to 23 December.
The Star Alliance carrier states that the Aviation and Marine Engineers Association and E tu unions have served notices that would extend strike action by two more days, compared to an earlier notice that called for a strike on 21 December.
“We would like to reassure customers that we remain committed to mediation with unions and we are still hopeful of reaching a resolution which sees strike action averted,” says the airline’s general manager customer experience Anita Hawthorne.
“We are working on contingency plans to keep our flights moving the best we can if, as a worst-case scenario, strike action should go ahead - unfortunately some disruption would be inevitable though.”
The airline adds that it has no flight delays or cancellations planned at this stage, and has not yet issued any waivers to its fare conditions over those strike days.
FlightGlobal schedules data shows that the strike could impact around 690 flights that have been scheduled over the three days.
Air NZ has previously indicated that the strike would not affect its regional operations, as those aircraft are serviced by a separate employee group.
The dispute with engineers and maintenance workers stems from a proposal by the airline to standardise overtime payments at 150% of normal wages, compared to a different set of payments that apply at different times, as well as a proposed pay increment and one-off signing bonus.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
