Union doesn’t get it

Stuff reports:

Air New Zealand is accused of “rushing” to make up to 1460 cabin crew employees redundant, following news earlier this week of 387 pilot redundancies. …

The head of aviation at union E tū, Savage, said Air NZ was speeding into the redundancy process.

“The company’s plan to lay off thousands of people while the country is still in lockdown is the wrong move. It’s too rushed and it doesn’t need to be.

“That is not what fair consultation looks like and is very disappointing to see a once proud company get it so wrong. They risk destroying the very organisation they are trying to save,” he said.

“The wage subsidy, Air New Zealand’s cash reserves, and the government loan means we have the time to properly work through a process and look to the future.

Saying the layoffs are too rushed is farcical.

Let me make this simple.

There are no flights. There will be very few flights for years to come.

The decision to lay staff off has been well signalled, and if anything is overdue. It is impossible for Air NZ to survive without the redundancies. In fact it may not survive, even with them. I suspect they will have to make further cuts before long.

They have lost 90% of their revenue. To only be reducing staff numbers by 20% is in fact heroic.

It is tragic for the many great staff who are losing their jobs, but there is no point in pretending that this could be avoided by talking about it for a few more days or weeks.