Cabin crew from Air New Zealand subsidiary ‘Zeal’ have begun their four day strike, with at least four flights already cancelled.
Zeal staff operate on all Airbus trans-Tasman and Pacific flights but Air New Zealand say they are doing all they can to stop the disruption.
The airline is even going as far as training senior managers to stand in for cabin crew.
Bruce Parton, Air New Zealand senior manager, says he had to stand in today to ensure no more flights were cancelled.
“There's probably about four across the four-day strike,” says Mr Parton.
“It's a pretty normal thing and one that we don't do easily but certainly the right call to make in this case.”
Mr Parton says passengers will not notice a difference, however the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union disagrees.
“We know that there will be some incontinence to passengers with the service on board the aircraft with meals and so on,” says Andrew Little from the EPMU
Zeal Flight attendant, Kirsty Hamilton, says it is not fair that they are paid less than Air New Zealand domestic crews.
“We're paid 20 to 30 thousand dollars less than cabin crew that wear the same uniform and work on the same aircraft as us,” says Ms Hamilton.
Fellow flight attendant Stephanie Jeeves has a base salary of just over 28,000 with her additional allowance to cover dry cleaning, makeup, stocking and food being under five dollars for each hour she fly’s.
“When you look at the price of stockings, you snag a pair of stockings on the aeroplane and that's two hours of my pay gone,” says Ms Jeeves.
The Union is demanding a 15 percent increase, but Air New Zealand says it will not budge from its four percent offer.
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