Air NZ cabin crew suspended for wearing wigs

The New Zealand Herald is reporting that an Air New Zealand flight to Australia was grounded on Thursday after cabin crew members were suspended for donning wigs. Wearing wigs to work was a creative form of industrial action in the ongoing pay dispute between the airline and the workers represented by the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU). The workers are not employed by Air New Zealand but are members of Zeal, the company that supplies Air New Zealand with cabin crew for its A320 services on Pacific and trans-Tasman routes. Nine cabin crew had been suspended the previous day for wearing feather boas, wigs and stickers.

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EPMU secretary Andrew Little says part of the strike notice issued by the workers was that they would adapt their uniforms in protest. Little says if they are to get back around the negotiating table, suspending workers doesn't help. He told TVNZ that the union thinks the airline is acting unlawfully, and they're certainly acting provocatively. The workers are seeking pay parity with other cabin crew directly employed by Air New Zealand.

Air New Zealand has applied to the Employment Court for an injunction to prevent planned strike action on the grounds that one aspect of the strike notice was unclear. This aspect related to the question of what constituted being "in New Zealand" while on flying duties. The EPMU noted on its website

Having received legal advice and participated in a directions conference with the Employment Court, the union negotiating team considered that the strike notice was unlikely to survive the court action and that with other litigation initiated by both the company and the union it was better to focus our legal resources on these other issues.

The industrial action involving “non-compliance with the company's uniform policy” and non-availability of staff for standby rosters will continue indefinitely.