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February 2007
The working year started with the continuation of a number of unresolved employment relations issues from 2006.
The Air New Zealand plan to outsource engineering services to the Spanish owned company Swissport continued to receive extensive media coverage (see October 2006 Chronicle). The Press reported that staff at the Christchurch branch had voted on a package negotiated between the airline and the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU). EPMU's National Secretary Andrew Little was quoted as saying that the "[the package] is a combination of what the airline has put to us that we think we can work with and what we've put up to [Air New Zealand]."
To further complicate matters, the Services and Food Workers' Union (SFWU) - representing nearly 250 of the workers affected by the outsourcing proposal - had refused to participate in any further negotiations. The Dominion Post reported that the two unions - EPMU and SFWU - were "deeply divided" over how to counter the airline's plan to outsource the jobs. Northern Regional Secretary for the SFWU Jill Ovens claimed that the EPMU had reneged on a pact made in October 2006 to stick together through negotiations. Andrew Little of the EPMU rejected the suggestion saying that "[w]e have both made our respective decisions about how we wish to approach this...[w]e are prepared to continue talks as long and as hard as we have to see if we can resolve it by agreement."
Issues relating to alleged breaches of good faith featured prominently in the media. The Press reported that the Christchurch City Council had successfully appealed an Employment Court ruling that the Council had breached good faith by contacting employees during the last agreement negotiations (see April 2005 Chronicle). The case related to the situation where the Council's former Chief Executive Lesley McTurk had written to union employees during pay talks because the Council thought it had been misrepresented by the union (the Southern Local Government Officers' Union). The union objected and a subsequent Employment Court hearing found McTurk's communications had breached the Employment Relations Act. The Employment Court had ruled that employers could not contact employees during bargaining without the union's consent. However, the Court of Appeal found that employers could communicate with workers...