Lock up your bags. Swissport is coming!

European passengers traveling within New Zealand are constantly amazed that New Zealanders do not lock our bags while traveling on our domestic airline, Air NZ check-in staff say.

In European airports, where ground-handling services are commonly outsourced to multi-national providers, staff do not have the same loyalty to the company that Air NZ enjoys and pilfering of baggage is all too common.

Swissport, the Spanish company that is Air NZ's preferred bidder for its ground-handling services, is one of the biggest outsource providers in Europe.

Service and Food Workers Union Northern Regional Secretary Jill Ovens says Air NZ check-in staff are proud to "represent the koru" and take customer service very seriously.

But she says a recent survey of SFWU members at Auckland International Airport showed that more than half will not transfer to Swissport if outsourcing proceeds.

This is because they are not prepared to work at all hours of the night and weekends without penal rates and on a lower hourly rate, Ms Ovens says.

As former Alliance MP Liz Gordon said in a recent column, "A lower-paid workforce will inevitably lead to increased dishonesty and security issues, a more transient staff and worse service."

A senior Air NZ manager confirmed yesterday that Swissport management arrived in New Zealand this week to start work on the transition, even though a decision has yet to be announced and negotiations with the Engineering, Manufacturing and Printing Union, which represents baggage handlers and some check-in staff, are still on-going on a "blueprint" to avoid outsourcing.

Yesterday Air NZ CEO Rob Fyfe told new check-in staff at a "Welcome Aboard" presentation that outsourcing to Swissport was a "certainty", the SFWU was told by new members who have just completed their training.

"Fyfe did a very slick presentation, by all accounts, in which he promised higher pay under Swissport and urged them to embrace change," Ms Ovens says.

The SFWU, which represents a majority of check-in staff at Auckland International Air port, is not afraid of change, Ms Ovens says.

"We just don't happen to believe that cutting workers' conditions, deskilling the workforce and cutting back on staff at check-in counters is in the interest of our national airline.

"We think that the people of New Zealand, as tax-payers and customers, should demand that the Board of Air NZ immediately withdraws its proposal to outsource."

ENDS

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