Zealgirl’s Blog

As the days go by I have come to realise, everyone is saying we are a great airline ‘ Air New Zealand’ and that we at zeal are ruining the brand of our airline, but we at Zeal are confused are we an airline or are we just labour for hire like our contract states? I would be interested to hear people’s thoughts on our position in this company…….

Air NZ came back with an offer, it is a start!  Reasonable but complicated all the same, they’ve used smoke and mirrors to make it look better than what it is basically a 48cent pay rise for every hour we work because everything else they offered us, we already have, but the offer was made to look better as they have threatened for months to take away these things so when they say they’re confirmed to stay it makes the offer look better than it really is…. a good start Air NZ but get real and let us go back to working properly!

xoxo Zeal Girl

Well votes are in if the negotiations don’t go well today, we will probably be putting in an 8 day strike notice…….

 Air New zealand is due to come back to EPMU today with an offer, fingers crossed it’s a figure and conditions we can all work with.  We had a  few meetings and did a vote and just over 90% of the Zeal EPMU memebers voted on an 8 day strike!

So keep posted as the next 24 hours it should get very very interesting…… I’m off to work now so I’ll do an update sometime tomorrow, GOOD LUCK with negotiations today team!

xoxo Zeal Girl

I came across this article of two different management styles, and found it fascinating……..

Churchill was the model of the inspirational politician, not the charismatic one. No one was overawed by Churchill’s physical presence in the way they were by Hitler’s. The British leader worked from a terraced house in Whitehall – the whole working area of which could fit into Hitler’s study in the Reich Chancellery. (The Chancellery, designed by Albert Speer in 1938, had enormous halls – with a combined length of 900ft – coming off the Wilhelmstrasse, solely in order to emphasise its grandeur to visiting diplomats.)

Of the two men, Hitler was actually kinder to his immediate staff than Churchill was to his. In terms of man-management, Hitler was – astonishingly enough – the more considerate boss. Churchill’s secretaries often became exasperated by his rudeness and lack of indulgence, whereas the Führer was adored by those who worked closest with him. He remembered their names and birthdays, visited them when they were ill, and they repaid him with lifetime devotion, even after his crimes became generally known. Churchill was loved by his staff because he was ‘saving civilisation’, not because of his off-hand way of treating them (in 1940 things got so bad, his wife had to remonstrate with him about his manner).

Although Hitler might have been a better people-manager in some ways, his tendency to attempt to micro-manage the Third Reich once the war broke out led directly to his downfall. Whereas in the years leading up to the outbreak of war Hitler took a back seat in terms of administration, after 1939 he insisted on taking decisions that ought to have been left to far more junior officers. At one point during the war in the east he wound up ordering small-scale maps and directing Wehrmacht troop movements all the way down to battalion level.

Churchill did the absolute opposite, although as First Lord of the Admiralty he did get too involved in detail – he enquired into the number of duffel-coats issued to individual ships by their commanders, and gave orders that backgammon rather than cards should be played on Royal Navy vessels. But once the war was underway he managed to concentrate on the bigger picture, concerning himself with the broad strategic sweep of the war rather than the minutiae.

In this, Churchill was greatly helped by the fact that he was not a totalitarian dictator. The British chiefs of staff could stand up to Churchill – and under their chairman Field-Marshal Lord Alanbrooke they frequently did – in a way that would have been inconceivable with the Führer. As a result of Churchill’s never once overruling the service chiefs, the grand strategy of the war was run in a rational and logical way that was simply impossible in Nazi Germany.

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Air NZ wages will be decided by negotiation, not decree – EPMU

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union says an edict made by Air New Zealand that pay increases for staff on individual agreements will be frozen or capped at a low rate will not dictate the outcome of EPMU collective negotiations with the airline.

The instructions were delivered in a CEO message last week and come as the EPMU is in dispute with the airline over Zeal 320 negotiations and prepares to negotiate the Airports agreement – the largest collective agreement Air New Zealand is party to.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little says pay rises for union members at Air New Zealand will be decided across the negotiating table.

“Under New Zealand law, wages and conditions are set by good faith bargaining, not by a decree of the CEO.

“With this in mind we’ll be sitting down to negotiate with Air New Zealand in exactly the same way we always do and we will take into account our members’ democratically chosen claims as well as matters of company profit, increases in the cost of living and other economic factors as we always do.

“We would hope that non-union members on individual employment agreements at Air New Zealand would also be dealt with through good faith negotiations as is their right in law.”

The EPMU represents more than 4000 aviation workers most of whom are employed by Air New Zealand or its subsidiaries.

ENDS”

All week everyone at Zeal and the union can talk about is collecting money and food parcels, as we have many memebers unable to survive on this income we have! We only striked for four days to voice our opinions an let the company know how we feel. It just goes to show how four days without pay has upset the balance in the many families of people doing our job, we live not even week to week it’s day to day and to lose four days pay we have families who can’t eat and pay bills……this is a big wake up call to us it just refreshes the issue that we can’t afford not to improve our conditions…. when you think of a flight attendant you think glamour and travel, well the reality is it’s safety, security, solving problems for people and customer service plus! and instead of designer clothes and travelling to fabulous destinations for some of us at Air NZ the “Zeal crew” it’s having 2nd jobs and having to accept food parcels!

I am so impressed with our unity and team work, xoxo Zeal Girl

“Each time someone stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope”….Robert F Kennedy.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”….Martin Luther King Jnr.

Stay strong Zeal

Well it was pay day yesterday, much to say it was more painful than ever! Some people got as little as $350 for two weeks pay. These are the sacrifices we take in order to get equal base salary to Domestic Crew!

I must say I am so proud of all my zeal crew who I work with and stood at the picket line with, as some of our crew can’t even afford to eat after our pay day, everyone is pulling together and offering up whatever they can, if its cash or even a can of spaghetti they are offering it.

It is a sad day when you can’t feed yourself or your family, when trying to stand up for what you believe in, equality!

For those of you, who are the ones struggling to feed your families it’s too you I thank as we all stand together, you are the one who’s roughing it to do so…..Thank You and we all appreciate your sacrifice! So in return we are here for you! Call the union (0800 1 union) if you are in a rut and we at zeal are putting together food parcels for you, it’s the least we can do for our team mates!

If you would like to help donate call 0900 stand tall to donate money or call the union 0800 1 union to drop off food…..

I am so proud of everyone for pulling together; we couldn’t do it without you all!

Xoxo Zeal Girl

I have been hearing a lot of comments like ‘Zeal crew are being greedy, they’re not the same as long haul” and “the union are bad news, they have old school ideals and are trying to introduce old things like over time which is something people don’t do anymore, these young zeal crew would not know what over time is if it wasn’t for the union”

So I would like to get the record straight by saying we are not being greedy, we want equality, we don’t compare ourselves to Long Haul, we want similar pay to Domestic, the union have been saying Domestic get all sorts of extra’s that we at Zeal don’t get. One of these extras happens to be over time, long haul gets it as well. This is not something we are asking for! Like popular opinion states its old school, it’s a thing of the past! Please note how ever Domestic and Long Haul get over time something we do not, and we are not asking for it, we are asking for a liveable wage! A base salary equal to that of Domestic crew.

Secondly, they have got zeal crew to passenger up or down the country before a 2 sector flight over the Tasman and then to passenger back up or down the country somewhere, if it is under 14 hours; our management are saying it is acceptable! This is totally disgusting crew are barely able to move after they have done the 3rd flight let alone doing a fourth flight home or to a hotel, no other cabin crew at Air NZ would be able to do this it would be considered fatiguing and unsafe! An example would be passenger CHC-AKL then work AKL-SYD and SYD-AKL then passenger AKL-WLG for another days work then next day……this is totally outrageous! 

Letters have been found onboard by crew from the duration of our strike saying “we are unable to do business class today due to industrial action by our crew we have not enough crew for a business class service, you will receive $60 for this inconvenience, and a lady spoke to a crew member today in business class saying her flight was cancelled she was moved onto a Qantas flight, and her service in business class, onboard her Air NZ flight by this zeal crew member was a lot better than Qantas! So much for Bruce saying that Air NZ has got us covered and they can cover us for as long as they like.

We still work hard, we still do our job to a very high level of service and dedication, just because we want equality doesn’t not mean we are letting ourselves slip when it comes to our work, if anything it means we work harder to prove we are worth it! I hope for all the people at Air NZ who covered us as volunteers realise now it is a lot harder mentally and physically than you may have perceived.

The support from people over the last few days has been incredible thank you xoxo Zeal Girl

We the union memebers at Zeal have received letters from our management about harrassing and bullying passengers into supporting us and bullying zeal people who are not memebers of the union.

Without any support or evidence of these acussations, we are not that type of union! We only bring this matter up if it has been a question asked to us in the first place, we would never jepordise our position with nonse like these accusations suggest!

On the other hand we have been the victim of an internal Air NZ blogging forum where employees can write down their thoughts and opinions now it states…….

“Please respect everyone’s feelings and do not post any material that is abusive, vulgar, threatening, harassing, libellous, defamatory, obscene, invades a person’s privacy, violates any intellectual or other property rights, or that would otherwise violate any law.  Users who break the rules will be banned from posting to the forums and be subject to investigation.   The Webmaster reserves the right to stop any inappropriate discussion threads.

You may not post multiple threads on the same subject in order to grow your post count or gain attention.

No trolling of the forums. Trolling is defined as posting with the intent of inciting trouble or trying to stir up complications or disrupting the conversation.”

Here is just one thread I have posted but it’s people like paul….who have been making comments like this for days, there have been many comments made about sausages as we had a bbq out in the park while we were picketing, and made a comment that sometimes all we can afford to eat each week is sausages…..where is there letter of bullying and harrassment? an example of the korunet blogs……

<!– –>	<!– Alert  –> I have just recently left zeal and my hourly rate was $13.51 + $4.87 allowances and Zeal don’t get an allowance for drycleaning either, the overseas port cash allowance is deducted from your next pay and when you overnight in NZ you don’t get any cash allowances whatsoever. It was worked out that on a $28000 salary almost $10000 a year went towards company related costs like shoes, hoisery, dry cleaning etc.   08-05-2009 3:17 PM
Paul | Posts:67 <!– –>	<!– Alert  –> Now I am glad Emma mentioned hoisery. I didnt realise that you can snag your stockings twice per flight, according to Stephanie on the news last night. Maybe there is an opportunity to use sausage skin as an alternative option. Its stretches and is skin colour and everyone loves a bit of sausage dont they.   08-05-2009 3:51 PM
Raili | Posts:1 <!– –>	<!– Alert  –> Am not sure where this 30hr week figure was pulled from. Zeal crew regularly work more than 30hrs in just a 2 or 3 day period let alone a week. Also i bet alot of you don’t realise that when Zeal crew are on annual leave and therefore not accruing ”allowances” their take home pay only comes in at close to $400 pw, try taking a holiday on that whilst still paying all your bills!   08-05-2009 3:56 PM
Emma | Posts:7 <!– –>	<!– Alert  –> Have you worn stockings before paul? What Stephanie was saying is that 2hours of work (allowances $4.87 per hour!!) would not even be enough to buy a half decent pair of stockings. Anyway the point im sure she was trying to get accross is that these are the sort of things we have to pay for out of that $4.87 per hr (dry cleaning, meals whilst away from home, make up, hair products, regulation work shoes, stockings…just to name a few!!) Also this 30hr week is a total myth. I have a trip next week which is 90hrs (4days) last week i did 56hrs (3days.) Its a shame there are so many narrow minded ppl that write on these threds and dont know all the TRUTHFUL information. None of us want to strike but it has had to come to this and the only ppl we can all blame is management. Btw when i applied for my job (on Freedom air website) got trained for freedom air etc then a week before we were due to start and ALREADY SIGNED our FREEDOM air contracts they said u wld be doing the odd air nz flight as well….3.5 years later still on Freedom air contract!!!   08-05-2009 4:15 PM
Paul | Posts:67 <!– –>	<!– Alert  –> I have worn stockings actually and secretly quite enjoyed it, but dont tell anyone. Ultra sheer are my fav although I have tried the new ultra mega sensitive sheer and they are the future for sure.   08-05-2009 4:27 PM
Cameron | Posts:35 <!– –>	<!– Alert  –> It is amazing how many people are ready to pass judge ment when they don’t know the whole story, and are choosing to listen to just one source of information. It is good to see some factual information in this thread from Zeal members in order to give it all some perspective. I suggest that if people have some questions to start another thread for questions and answers only and hopefully the Zeal crew will answer them.   08-05-2009 4:38 PM
Paul | Posts:67 <!– –>	Will they tell us their favourite stockings or even sausage?   08-05-2009 4:40 PM and comments like this………… Paul | Posts:67 <!– –> Group hug everyone and a special hug for all those red heads out there because it is National Hug a Ginger Day.   08-05-2009 5:10 PM Air new Zealand is very one sided about all of this it only seems to be the zeal crew getting letters of bullying and harrassment…… more narrow mindedness from the mothership….!

You Tube video

Well first flight back at work…..another day over the Tasman!

The support was over whelming, Gold Elite passengers (high value customers) saying good on us for taking a stand for equal working conditions and pay! We had another union member travelling as a passenger on board today, he give us a supportive pat on the back! One lady came down the back pointed at my industrial action sticker and said “good on you, you are all hard workers”

So the nerves I had when I woke up this morning have all gone it’s been a great boost and reminder that we’re not alone in this and we have a lot of support!

Hearing back from non union members, who worked over the industrial action, it sounds as though other people in the business had a greater understanding of what we actually do every day and how hard it actually is, mentally and physically….most of the helpers only worked one or two days and even at the end of it they needed a day off…..nice way to prove a point I say!

If anything it gave Air New Zealanders and Upper Management a clear understanding of what goes on in our jobs! I hope they can use this experience when it comes to negotiations they can think about their time spent in our shoes and come to nice resolution for both parties!

I am still concerned that management are not listening to what we want I have seen a few letters in response to passengers emailing the company (in support for us) and comments made in the media..And I am seeing and hearing facts and figures that are not true to what we’re asking for…maybe if they listen to what we are asking for we may have this resolved a lot quicker!

For Passenger who do read this blog or Management who would like a clear understanding of how we see the situation…… here is the story

How much did you pay for this seat? Did you get your discount? Because the flight attendants on this flight are discount crew!
When the crew on this flight were hired for this job they were lead to believe that they were going to be working for Air New Zealand, and with the uniform they wear, the service they provide and the aircraft they work on you are probably thinking too that they are employed by Air New Zealand. But months into the job these people found out that they weren’t really employed by Air New Zealand, but by Zeal 320, a subsidiary company owned 100% by Air New Zealand!
The crew on this flight have an annual salary ranging between $25,625.84 (starting rate) and $29,000. The In-flight Service Manager who is wholly responsible for the safety of all passengers and crew onboard has an annual salary of $35,000 – $36,000. Whether they are a junior or a senior flight attendant all crew earn the same tax free duty allowance of $4.87 an hour for every hour of flying however they do not get this allowance if they are on annual leave, are sick or are injured and they are required to survive and support their families off their base salary for this amount of time. This $4.87 an hour also has to cover dry-cleaning the uniform, stockings (which cost around $8 a pair so if they sang one of those there goes 2 hours of pay), makeup, petrol and food while they are away from home whereas their Air New Zealand counterparts get allowances for all of these things.
With a take home pay of approximately $360 per week after tax a lot of these crew rely on food that is leftover after they have served you as their breakfast, lunch and dinner each day as they cannot afford groceries. Many of these crew also have second jobs just to supplement their income and support their families.
What was your reason for travelling with Air New Zealand? For those of you whose answer is because of the excellent service they provide and the fact that you get meals and entertainment on board should be wondering where your airfare went because the crew on this flight get paid less than those crew on budget airlines where you are not offered any of these things.
And for those of you that have flown domestically with Air New Zealand before, did you find the service any better than the service today? Because domestic crew earn 26% more than the crew on this flight. Pay parity with their domestic colleagues is all these crew are asking for.
These crew all love their jobs, none of them want to leave but without your support some of them will be forced to. To support them in their fight for equality please go to www.epmu.org.nz.