The threat of a strike by Air New Zealand aircraft maintenance and logistics staff in the lead-up to Christmas has been averted after the airline struck a new deal with two unions.
The Star Alliance carrier states that after three days of mediated negotiations with the Aircraft and Maritime Engineers Association and E tu, it has reached an in-principle agreement that the unions will now take to their members to vote on.
Details of the agreement have not been released, but the previous dispute was over overtime, pay increments and one-off payments to engineers and other ground staff at the carrier’s mainline operations.
That led the two unions to initially plan a strike on 21 December, which was then extended for two additional days, potentially crippling the airline’s operations over some of its busiest days in the year.
“We know how important it is to our customers to get where they need to be, particularly at this special time of the year and the negotiating teams have been working diligently to achieve this result,” says Air New Zealand chief ground operations officer Carrie Hurihanganui.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
