Passengers advised to pack lunches

Press, 27 January 1986, Page 8

Passengers advised to pack lunches

Passengers on international flights out of New Zealand today will have to pack their own lunches if they want to eat and drink.

Air New Zealand flight kitchen staff walked off the job in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch yesterday after the suspension of five workers in the Auckland kitchens.

No food or liquor will be prepared for any departing international flight.

Air New Zealand was approaching passengers to warn them that the larders will be empty, and to tell them to “plan accordingly,” said an Air New Zealand spokesman yesterday. When they checked in, passengers would be given $2O cash, he said. The dispute centres on the flight kitchen staff section of the Hotel Workers’ Union’s award negotiations. The assistant secretary of the Canterbury Hotel Workers’ Union, Mr Andy Lawson, said yesterday that his 300 members

wanted parity with ground steward staff, some of whom also worked in the kitchens.

After three days of negotiations last week, their claims had not been met, he said.

On Saturday members met throughout New Zealand and decided to reject Air New Zealand’s offer. In Auckland, 200 members refused to handle crockery. Five workers were approached by management and asked to do the work, refused, and were suspended.

The rest of the staff then stopped work and began a sit-in, until they were asked to leave the premises. The union saw this as a lock-out, and members in Wellington and Christchurch had walked off the job yesterday afternoon, Mr Lawson said.

One international flight left Christchurch last evening half catered for. Flights today will have no food.

Mr Lawson said the union had been trying to reach parity with ground

stewards for the last eight years. Previously they had been paid the same.

The union was willing to accept an increase in allowances for members holding a Trades Certificates Board hygiene certificate, which would take their wages the extra $8.84 a week needed for parity.

“We basically do the same job as the ground stewards already, except they get the extra allowance for having a heavy duty vehicle licence.

Members of the union would meet again tomorrow to reassess the situation.

A spokesman for Air New Zealand said in Auckland yesterday that the action was “directly against passengers who will be denied the comfort and quality of travel they have a right to expect.”

The company understood that the unsettled part of the claim would go to the Arbitration Court. Mr Lawson said the union had been given no such undertaking.

The airline spokesman said the strike had not been with 14 days notice, and the company viewed it as illegal.

The coffee bar at Christchurch Airport is preparing for a busy day today.

A staff member said last evening that passengers on the Qantas flight to Sydney had “bought everything in sight” to prepare for their journey.

Air New Zealand’s kitchen at Mangere provides about an average of 5000 meals a day, the Press Association reported.

More than half the meals are produced for 12 other international airlines using Auckland Airport. During earlier industrial action by the kitchen staff the overseas airline brought sufficient provisions into Auckland to serve outbound passengers. The Auckland union secretary, Mr Rick Barker, said his union was approaching those overseas and asking them not to “double-provide” for the carrier.