Ban By Airport Fire Officers

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31702, 11 June 1968, Page 18

Ban By Airport Fire Officers

Crash fire officers had banned extension and recall duties at Christchurch Airport since last Friday night, the regional airways officer of the Department of Civil Aviation (Mr E. G. Brooke) confirmed yesterday.

The crash fire officers claim that their meal allowances and transport allowances are being cut by Government economy measures.

Mr Brooke said that as long as all aircraft were running to schedule nothing was affected.

The imposition of the ban is a resurgence of a similar

dispute that was claimed to have been settled on May 14. On that occasion the crash fire officers withdrew their intended ban on extension and recall duties.

The secretary of the Public Service Association (Mr D. P. Long) visited Christchurch yesterday. Mr Brooke said that extension duty varied from day to day. The rostered hours were designed to meet scheduled services. Problems could arise

through disruptions elsewhere which had an effect at Christchurch. Any special flight, domestic or international, outside normal hours could be affected. He said that although the dispute was basically the

same as that of last month, he believed that this one was aimed against delay in completing negotiations. Aircraft are not allowed to land or take off unless crash fire officers are on duty. This could cause the airport to be closed at certain times.