Industrial Director, Andrew McKeen.

Negotiations and ensuring compliance with the resulting Collective Agreement (CA) remains one of the most fundamental services we provide for members. Settling a first CA for a member employee group is always a milestone and at the time of writing, I am pleased to say we have a signed Terms of Settlement for the inaugural Air New Zealand Simulator Instructor Collective Agreement.

From the outset, NZALPA’s intent was to create terms and conditions that allowed simulator instructing to be a genuine career choice, in both jet and turboprop simulator instructing roles. We often see members towards the end of their flying careers taking up simulator instructing roles, but simulator instructing also provides invaluable employment continuation for those members that are unfortunate enough to lose their flying medical.

As is almost always the case, we did not achieve all the smaller detail we set out to achieve, but the resulting  document provides a solid platform to build from for subsequent bargains and certainly provides terms and conditions simulator instructor members can be comfortable with. It is not often that two parties with a long-standing relationship (Air New Zealand and NZALPA) have a need to create a brand-new CA and thanks must go to those simulator instructor members who have contributed along the way and to NZALPA Solicitor/ Advocate Joy who led the bargain.

In what turned out to be a busy year for bargaining, we are close to settling another inaugural CA, this time with Airwork. We are aiming to have a Terms of Settlement and ratified CA prior to Christmas. Again, thanks must go to those Airwork members who make up the negotiating team and to NZALPA Advocate Rachel who is leading that bargain.

Every bargain needs members to be part of the NZALPA negotiating team. While some members might have a view that NZALPA should employ ‘professional negotiators’ to bargain for our CAs, I believe the best advocates for what members need – and the best people to determine the best course of action – are the members that work in the roles. The best professional negotiators available are the professionals covered by the CA. The NZALPA staff advocates provide the necessary legal assistance along the way and, because they sit across multiple NZALPA CAs, also provide the cross- pollination of detail on what we might consider industry standard minimum terms and conditions.

NZALPA is focussed on promoting constructive and collaborative relationships with employers wherever possible. Over the years, our experience has shown that the short 60-day bargaining window prior to the expiry of a CA (s41(3)(a) of the Employment Relations Act 2000) can create added pressure which invariably contributes to undermining the relationship between bargaining parties. The Act is unduly restrictive but without a documented process of some description, it is often difficult to get employers to engage prior to a statutory obligation. To that end, NZALPA has been using a ‘pre- negotiations charter’ as a mechanism to bind the parties in the same way a traditional Bargaining Process Agreement does, but well in advance of the 60-day restriction.

Under the pre-negotiations charter, the parties commence bargaining discussions up to 12 months prior to the expiry of the CA to work through issues that would otherwise be the subject of claims. The charter promotes constructive problem solving and collaboration in order to ensure a timely and seamless transition to a new CA. The parties are given the luxury of time, in a non-pressured environment, to thoroughly and constructively work through problems and issues to reach an agreement prior to expiry of the old CA. 

The pre-negotiations charter was first successfully used to conclude bargaining for the Air New Zealand jet pilot CA in May 2017/2018 and
has subsequently been used for the Air New Zealand turboprop pilot CA, the PHI (Petroleum Helicopters International – previously known as Helicopters New Zealand) pilot CA, the NRHL (Northern Rescue Helicopters Ltd – a joint venture partnership between the Northland Emergency Services Trust and the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust) pilot CA and the Air Freight NZ Ltd (providing pilots for the Life Flight Jetstream operation) pilot CA.

NZALPA’s legal team (advocates and solicitors) is core to the success of the Association and earlier this year we were advised that our legal team had been made a finalist for the ILANZ Small In-house Team of the Year Award. The In-house Lawyers Association of New Zealand (ILANZ) is a section of the New Zealand Law Society that recognises the distinct needs and concerns of lawyers providing professional legal services to their employers (in our case NZALPA is their employer). ILANZ covers lawyers working in the private sector, public sector and not-for-profit organisations. The ILANZ Awards celebrate the in-house legal profession’s leadership and excellence in the provision of legal services.

The Small In-house Team of the Year Award is awarded to an in-house legal team with no more than 10 full-time equivalent lawyers that has made a valuable contribution to their organisation and the legal profession. The judges were impressed with the high calibre of nominations. Award winners were announced at the ILANZ Gala Dinner in October, which the legal team attended for what was, by all accounts, an enjoyable evening together. While we ultimately weren’t successful on the night, the Association clearly has a team of legal professionals providing quality support and advice in all areas the Association chooses to operate.