Air NZ and police fall out over dob-a-worker policy

26 February, 2010

The arrangement between the Air New Zealand and the Police to share information about Air New Zealand staff members has hit rough water after media used the Official Information Act to uncover comments by Police about a drink-driving culture at the airline.

The arrangement, which is for Police to provide Air New Zealand information about charges relating to staff members, is also being challenged by the EPMU via the Privacy Commission and the Independent Police Conduct Authority.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little says that while Air New Zealand is right to refute the drinking culture claims it should never have entered the relationship with the police.

"There's an old saying that you reap what you sow and it's pretty rich for Air New Zealand to be attacking the Police when they were previously conniving with them to breach our members' privacy."

"Anybody caught drink driving should be, and in any case the union has come across has been, dealt with through the courts and get their just desserts there but they shouldn't then have to answer to their employer for same issue. The Police want people to be punished twice for the same thing.

"We don't think there is a drink driving culture at Air New Zealand and the stats show that their staff are, in fact, more responsible than the New Zealand average, which you would expect in an industry like aviation" says Little.

"Unfortunately for Air New Zealand and the Police this arrangement has been brought to the public's attention and neither organisation wants to deal with the can of worms that's opened."

The EPMU is currently waiting on decisions by the Employment Relations Authority, the IPCA and the Privacy Commissioner.