Pressure on unions to reach job-saving deal

Union officials admit they are under pressure to turn around a vote by members to save the jobs of 300 Air New Zealand engineers from going overseas.

Air New Zealand engineering staff from Auckland and Christchurch voted last week on the new proposal which gave concessions in pay and conditions but was narrowly defeated due to a handful of votes from some Christchurch members of the Aviation and Marine Engineers Association (AMEA).

The Engineers Printing and Manufacturing Union (EMPU) have asked Air New Zealand for more time despite the airline indicating it would push ahead with its plans to contract out all engineering work to overseas companies.

The Prime Minister Helen Clark has also called for both sides to continue talking.

Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe told National Radio today the airline remained open to further talks from the union.

EMPU national secretary Andrew Little said the union did not want to see any further "rash decision-making" from the airline as happened yesterday when the airline announced plans were already underway to send jobs offshore within an hour of the vote.

The "pressure was on" to turn the vote around and the decision now rested with the AMEA members, he said.

The rejection of the vote was by such a small margin compared to the vote throughout the rest of the union which was strongly in favour -- about 70 per cent -- that he was confident of a good outcome, he said on National Radio today.

"When people see those sort of results I think people will think it's not their position to stand in the way of this change and saving those jobs."

AMEA national secretary George Ryde said he wanted to meet as soon as possible with members but the earliest he could arrange a meeting was Thursday due to union rules.

Mr Ryde said he needed to discuss with his members why they had rejected the proposal and was hopeful the time before the meeting would allow them to consider all the implications of their vote.

"I must get some understanding from my members what they didn't like about the package," he said.

Mr Fyfe said the airline would be willing to talk to the union if they were able to turn the vote around.

Despite appeals for a positive resolution from the Prime Minister Mr Fyfe said a meeting with the Government on the issue would not add any value to the situation and the challenge now lay between the union leadership and the members to get support for this proposal. 

PM Helen Clark yesterday urged Air New Zealand management and unions to keep talking about ways to save hundreds of engineering jobs in the company.

She said the vote results formed the good basis for further talks.

The Government has held a majority shareholding in Air New Zealand since bailing out the airline saving it from financial ruin. 

The Prime Minister said the unions had done a lot of work to get the job saving proposal together and they would be disappointed that a small majority at one work place had meant it was rejected.

"I am told that these percentages may actually amount to as much as six people being the difference between something carrying and not carrying on and that is why I say it would be best if this wasn't the last word on this matter."

Mr Little said Helen Clark's comments yesterday were encouraging as the Government was giving a clear signal about its expectations.

"The Government does have an interest in keeping these jobs and keeping an aircraft engineering business and an industry here."

- NZPA