Air New Zealand suspends some Boeing 787 and 777 crew over rolling strike action

Air New Zealand wide-body cabin crew are striking for better pay and “decent jobs” on behalf of colleagues who are earning minimum wage, a union says. In an email to union members, E tū said 44 cabin crew leaders in Air New Zealand’s Boeing 787 and 777 teams were striking for better conditions for crew that had returned to work after a period of redundancy during the pandemic. “The 44 are not striking for themselves. They are striking for the sake of their fellow crew,” the email said. “Times have been tough for all of us at the airline and still too many of us are on minimum wage and below the living wage.” The minimum wage has just increased to $21.20 an hour and the living wage is $22.75 an hour. The strike comes at a crucial time for Air New Zealand, which is entering a busy Easter holiday period that coincides with New Zealand’s border opening to Australians this week, and travellers from visa-waiver countries from May 1. E tū said in response to the strike, Air New Zealand had been “selectively targeting” the 44 striking workers and suspending them from duties. The union said this was an attempt to disrupt the strike “and punish E tū members for taking collective action”. Some striking crew had been suspended for six days and were not being paid for these days, the union said. Air NZ chief people officer Nikki Dines said since receiving initial notice of strike action from E tū on March 7 on behalf of a group of 44 cabin crew, there had been rolling strike action over 37 days. "The nature of the strike action is a ban on training other employees and on recording results and signing off the training of other employees," Dines said.<br/>