Air NZ recruiting new staff to cover strike

Air New Zealand has begun recruiting flight attendants in what appears to be a dramatic bid to keep flights operating when its trans-tasman and Pacific Islands cabin crews go on strike at Easter.

Large three-colour advertisements in weekend newspapers, under the name of Hudson Managed Services but carrying the Air New Zealand logo, sought flight attendants on the routes where 250 existing staff have given notice of a four-day strike from April 8.

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, which represents the striking workers, has threatened to seek a court injunction if it does not get assurances by midday today that the new staff will not be used to break the strike.

Union secretary Andrew Little, who is also president of the Labour Party, said the action appeared to be illegal under section 97 of the Labour Government's Employment Relations Act 2000, which bans recruitment of strike-breakers except for health or safety reasons.

"I have never seen anything this brazen before," he said.

Auckland University employment law expert Bill Hodge agreed the move was "totally unusual".

"It's raising a flag saying, 'Hey, look at what we're doing.' It's a bit odd," he said.

Hudson and Air New Zealand both declined to comment yesterday but Mr Little said Air New Zealand short haul airlines general manager Bruce Parton was "unrepentant about it" when Mr Little rang him on Sunday.

"He basically said, 'We'll do whatever we have to do to make them fly," Mr Little said.

Mediation in the dispute would go ahead as planned at the Labour Department offices in Manukau today.

"I'm going to be there," Mr Little said.

"I'm running the negotiating team to see if we can find a solution."

The union has also emailed the London-based LabourStart website asking the 50,000 unionists on its worldwide mailing list to apply for flight attendant jobs at Hudson so the company will not be able to tell who are genuine applicants.

The existing cabin crews on the Tasman and Pacific Island flights on A320 aircraft are employed by an Air New Zealand subsidiary, Zeal 320.

They say they start on just $25,626 a year, 3 per cent less than crews on domestic flights and 18 per cent less than those on long-haul international flights.

AIR CREW STRIKE

* Strike starting on April 8 affects Air NZ flights to Australia and Pacific Islands.
* Strike due to last until the end of Easter Saturday.
* Mediation due today in Manukau.
* Hudson Managed Services is recruiting cabin crews to staff the affected routes.
* Union threatens injunction to stop recruiting and is seeking worldwide support.