Air New Zealand subsidiary Zeal has suspended nine of its staff for wearing fancy dress on duty.
The suspensions are an escalation of a pay dispute between Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) members and Zeal, the company which supplies Air New Zealand with cabin crew for its A320 services on Pacific and trans-Tasman routes.
Air New Zealand group general manager short haul airlines Bruce Parton said tonight he had been told by Zeal the nine cabin crew were suspended for non-compliance with their strike notice.
"We are extremely disappointed that some Zeal cabin crew are resorting to childish tactics like wearing feather bowers, lace gloves, pink wigs and placing stickers on their foreheads and buttocks," he said.
"The uniform identifies cabin crew, which is important for safety reasons, as well as the ability to convey authority and professionalism..."
But EPMU national secretary Andrew Little said the suspended members' actions were consistent with the strike notice the union had given and related to staff turning up to work in non-compliant gear.
"Air NZ has obviously taken umbrage at that," he said.
"They did indicate yesterday that they would resort to their rights, they do have the right to suspend if they wish, which they are now doing.
"I think it's just part of the exertion of pressure on staff there."
Mr Little said the union had been dealing with it.
"It's been very difficult because they've denied access to union organisers to go and work with our members and with management, but in any event they've gone and suspended them.
"We think that what they're doing is arguably an unlawful lockout and we're looking at our legal options at the moment," Mr Little said.
More talks on the dispute were unlikely tomorrow, but would probably be held on Friday.
Mr Parton said Air New Zealand had respected the fact Zeal staff were legally entitled to take industrial action.
"However, we would hope that commonsense prevails and they adhere to their obligations under the strike notice. Abusing that right and overstepping the mark is nothing short of dumb."
He said he hoped the Zeal crew, was "able to turn their attention to constructively resolving the dispute".
Mr Parton said Air New Zealand was increasingly fielding comments from staff and customers who were embarrassed by the behaviours of some of the Zeal crew, but were grateful Air New Zealand had been able to maintain its schedule despite their actions.
Last week the airline said it had been fielding calls from customers concerned their Easter travel plans would be disrupted by proposed cabin crew strike action.
The EPMU announced industrial action on March 24 including a three-day strike to take place beginning April 8, saying six months of negotiations with Air New Zealand had failed.
