Air New Zealand laying off 600 staff

[Ixion]

... However in this situation, you could potentially look at it in a different way to "I don't want to leave NZ" by thinking "I have an opportunity to grow from simply a skilled engineer on an a respectable salary to a manager of many engineers in a foreign and exciting (and one of the world's fastest devloping) country, and earning a bucketload more money."

...

I think the Chinese government may have other ideas about that. They do not subscribe to the capitalist myth. The chances of any of the 600 sacked engineers being " manager of many engineers in a foreign and exciting .. country", at even a fraction of their present wage (checked the salary rates in China lately ? ) , let alone "and earning a bucketload more money" are negligable at best.

Outsourcing stinks, it is the ugly face of Capitalism. A socialist state would have decent jobs for everybody.

[Ixion]

Airnz has no choice. They have to restructure or face bankruptcy in the future. The airline industry around the world are facing huge input cost and competition with major airlines going into receivership.

..

Don't accept that. A national airline is a public good, and should not be predicted on the basis of its capability for capitalist exploitation. It is like the hydroelectrical systems, the post office and such other public goods (and the railways in a sane country).

Nationalise it and determine what the real value is to the country - not the value that overseas capitalists can extract from it.

[Biff]

they do a lot of work for other airlines too, and those airlines have to fly their aircraft all the way here to be serviced, hence why it is 'cheaper' to do it in asia or europe.
ay

Not quite - well at least not here in ChCh anyway. The engines are taken off the planes in their (airlines) country of origin, put in crates and flown here, in another aircraft. Hmmmmmm - False economy perhaps?

[Drunken Monkey]

...A socialist state would have decent jobs for everybody.

Now I know you're just taking the piss. You had me for a moment there, I thought you were serious.

[TwoSeven]

This type of announcement is where one begins to see the inexperience of local business leaders.

The question that needs to be asked is how did they allow themselves to get that division into a state where it has become cost ineffective. Why is it still owned by AirNZ. They should have spun it off into a separate company ages ago.

Now because of strategic ignorance they have lost the opportunity for future business development and future oppertunities. Its a cause of 'chop the leg off' rather than cure the wound.

[WINJA]

ITS A FUCKEN OUT RAGE LAYING OFF 600 STAFF , WE AS TAXPAYERS BAILED OUT AIR NZ THEN THEY STILL LAY THESE POOR GUYS OFF , I WANT OUR BAILOUT MONEY BACK

[justsomeguy]

I think that this was in the cards for a long time but was kept under wraps.

With the increased demand for flights and the holiday season isn't this the most cost effective time to shift operations?? Never mind the 2000 odd (600 families) people who will have on of the worst Christmases of their life.

The bastards.

[James Deuce]

Never mind the 2000 odd (600 families) people who will have on of the worst Christmases of their life..

As has already been pointed out, the lazy, useless, shiftless whingers should move to another country for less pay, worse living conditions, and a good dose of culture shock. They don't know how lucky they are. The have an "opportunity".

[Ixion]

The absurd thing is that ANZ's engineering operations have (or had until recently at any rate) a world class reputation. ANZ made a lot of money out of engineering contracts for other companies.

They're nuts if they think they'll be able to keep that revenue once the work is contracted out to China. Firstly, Chinese oiperations just are NOT going to have the good rep that NZ ones did. Secondly, why should Company X pay NZ a middleman fee to get the work done in China. If they're happy with China doing it , they can go direct to the Chinese themselves.

So ANZ will lose that revenue. I bet they're not factoring that into the figures though, cos it will take a while before the contracts stop being renewed. They're just looking at a very short term view, save a bit of money for a couple of years and who cares what it costs over the next few decades.

Typical short sighted incompetant NZ company management. There are very very very few NZ companies that are competantly managed. NZ senior management and directors are, by and large, a total bunch of smug self congratulatory , self protecting tossers.

[justsomeguy]

As has already been pointed out, the lazy, useless, shiftless whingers should move to another country for less pay, worse living conditions, and a good dose of culture shock. They don't know how lucky they are. The have an "opportunity".

Do I detect a trace of sarcasm there Jim??

Dunno bout the pay bit though - NZ has ridiculously low salaries.

The "average" quality of life though is quite high.

[justsomeguy]

Typical short sighted incompetant NZ company management. There are very very very few NZ companies that are competantly managed. NZ senior management and directors are, by and large, a total bunch of smug self congratulatory , self protecting tossers.

Don't forget the bloody politics.......

[James Deuce]

Dunno bout the pay bit though - NZ has ridiculously low salaries.

Lots of sarcasm.

Engineering/Maintenance graduates/tradespersons are a dime a dozen in China, and the wages are correspondingly lower. The Aviation Engineering business in NZ was founded off the back of post-WWII Air Force expertise, carried forward into NAC, and then Air New Zealand, and is making a huge mark in the vintage aircraft restoration business internationally. NZ Aviation Engineering experts have commanded a premium for a decade.

Once the AirNZ Engineering guys are gone, where does the flow on into the restoration business come from? It doesn't. The current guys relocate, even though the exchange rate really works in their favour at the moment.

Guess what I saw this morning? A Toll Holdings Locomotive painted in Green and Gold. Fantastic. NZ freight hauled by Aussie owned Locos in Aussie colours. Telecommunications, Electricity, and all Transport media should be regarded as important to the future development of any country. The NZ strategy is to sell them or dump them, and let the creative people that make up the meat of any company evaporate elsewhere. Then they whinge about "Brain Drain", and "how do we retain skilled people?"

Dumbasses.

[Drunken Monkey]

The engineers needn't worry. What we have here on this website is a crusader. Jim2 is going to raise some money and buy them all a christmas they won't forget out of his own philanthropists pockets.

[James Deuce]

The engineers needn't worry. What we have here on this website is a crusader. Jim2 is going to raise some money and buy them all a christmas they won't forget out of his own philanthropists pockets.

Lol - I think, if I try hard enough, I can get together 50c.

[heavenly.talker]

The funny thing about this is that AIRNZ laid out hundreds of staff about 10-12 years ago (by memory...it could have been longer or slightly shorter). These are the engineering type people. They then soon realised that oopps they didn't have people to service their planes and took many of the laid off people back on contract. paying them 2-3-4 times the amount of money they were making on wages. I wonder if they were eventually reabsorbed or if this is what will happen this time too.


Regardless...better start training boys and girls.

There is going to be lots of swimming for us all when other airlines determine that New Zealand isn't a profitable run and they stop flying into here!

The nearest international airport will end up being in Aus!

As for the new uniforms...
does anyone else think the colours are incredibly dull?
If that is what they look like on the skinny model like staff members I hate to think they are going to cling to the girls with child bearing hips!

Maybe that is the way forward for more revenue...if that was the case then they should have put them in playboy outfits!! lol