AIR PILOTS’ STRIKE

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28748, 20 November 1958, Page 15

AIR PILOTS’ STRIKE

Forbidden To Proceed

MELBOURNE, November 19. The Air Pilots’ Association was ordered by Mr Justice Spicer, President of the Commonwealth Conciliation Commission, today not to carry out its strike threat for three months. The association manager <Mr Bruce Crofts) said later, however, that the stop-work meetings would go ahead as planned. This means that no airline planes will fly on regular routes throughout Australia from midnight tonight for 24 hours. If the association faits to call off the 24-hour strike, it can be fined up to £5OO for contempt of Court for every day it fails to comply with the order.

Nearly 1000 pilots engaged by Australian air companies are involved in the threatened strike, which arises from wage demands. The main internal airlines. Trans Australia Airlines and Ansett-A.N.A., advised passengers that there would be no flights tomorrow and gave them the option of travelling today or on Friday. T.A.A. was flying 19 extra flights throughout Australia today and Ansett-A.N.A. also made provision for extra flights. On Friday, Ansett-A.N.A. plans to put on seven additional aircraft to catch up with the expected backlog of passengers and freight. The strike will also affect overseas services, where Australian pilots are involved.

One airliner certain to fly tomorrow is a T.A.A. Viscount which has been chartered to carry a party of Sydney schoolboys to Canberra for a day’s sight-see-ing.

Permission for this flight to continue was granted by the Air Pilots’ Association after • special request had been made by one of the schoolboys. John Parkinson. aged 11. Ansett-A.N.A. announced tn Melbourne that the only company plane which would fly in the 24 hours would be the helicopter which brought the managing director, Mr Reg Ansett, from his Mt Elisa home to Melbourne in the morning and took him home at night