Air New Zealand plans to cut almost 300 engineering and maintenance jobs, E Tū union revealed today.
Employees were told of the company’s plans on Friday, the union said.
In light of this, some Air New Zealand staff are calling for their company to halt those job cuts by bringing maintenance work back that had been moved overseas.
The jobs in question were taken offshore to Singapore in 2014.
Peter Lees, E tū delegate and licensed aircraft engineer in Christchurch, says that now is the time for Air New Zealand to serve the people of New Zealand.
"Our engineers produce work recognised around the world as being of the highest quality and take their responsibility to look after passengers very seriously," Mr Lees said.
"The company needs to do the right thing and do everything possible to save as many high-skilled jobs as it can."
The national carrier continues to struggle as travel numbers have turned into a trickle.
E Tū negotiator Paul Graham says bringing those jobs back to New Zealand is the right thing to do.
"Sending work offshore where labour standards are lower was never the responsible move," Mr Graham said.
He said attempts to discuss the issue have been rebuffed by management.
"They do not want to discuss the alternatives and are ignoring the insights and abilities of experienced engineers. It breaks their commitment to proper engagement with their workforce."
A spokesperson for Air New Zealand did not confirm the planned redundancies, saying "we are still working through the consultation process".
Air New Zealand did, however, confirm that "there are no plans to bring engineering work which was sent offshore in June 2015 back to New Zealand".
The airline’s looking to cut up to 3,500 jobs after suffering a drastic cut in demand due to the pandemic.
Around 300 Air New Zealand pilots were made redundant at the start of May due to the impact of Covid-19. The remaining 900 also took a pay cut of around 30 per cent.
The airline has struggled through the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, with staff across its pilot and cabin crews facing redundancies.
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